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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Proposed acceptance, qualification, and characterization tests for thin-film PV modules

Details of a proposed test program for PV thin-film modules which the Department of Energy has directed the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) to prepare are presented. Results of one of the characterization tests that SERI has performed are also presented. The objective is to establish a common approach to testing modules that will be acceptable to both users and manufacturers. The tests include acceptance, qualification, and characterization tests. Acceptance tests verify that randomly selected modules have similar characteristics. Qualification tests are based on accelerated test methods designed to simulate adverse conditions. Characterization tests provide data on performance in a predefined environment.

Waddington, D.↗
NASA NTRS2006

EOS Microwave Limb Sounder Observations of 'Frozen-in' Anticyclonic Air in Arctic Summer

A previously unreported phenomenon, a 'frozen-in' anticyclone (FrIAC) after the 2005 Arctic spring vortex breakup, was discovered in Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) long-lived trace gas data. A tongue of low-latitude (high-N2O, low-H2O) air was drawn into high latitudes and confined in a tight anticyclone, then advected intact in the summer easterlies through late August. A similar feature in O3 disappeared by early April as a result of chemical processes. The FrIAC was initially advected upright at nearly the same speed at all levels from approx.660 to 1300 K (approx.25-45 km); increasing vertical wind shear after early June tilted the FrIAC and weakened it at higher levels. The associated feature in PV disappeared by early June; transport calculations fail to reproduce the remarkable persistence of the FrIAC, suggesting deficiencies in summer high-latitude winds. The historical PV record suggests that this phenomenon may have occurred several times before. The lack of a persistent signature in O3 or PV, along with its small size and rapid motion, make it unlikely that a FrIAC could have been reliably identified without hemispheric daily longlived trace gas profiles such as those from EOS MLS.

Arctic vortex↗
NASA NTRS1994

Modeling of high efficiency solar cells under laser pulse for power beaming applications

Solar cells have been used to convert sunlight to electrical energy for many years and also offer great potential for non-solar energy conversion applications. Their greatly improved performance under monochromatic light compared to sunlight, makes them suitable as photovoltaic (PV) receivers in laser power beaming applications. Laser beamed power to a PV array receiver could provide power to satellites, an orbital transfer vehicle, or a lunar base. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) solar cells have calculated efficiencies of more than 50 percent under continuous illumination at the optimum wavelength. Currently high power free-electron lasers are being developed which operate in pulsed conditions. Understanding cell behavior under a laser pulse is important in the selection of the solar cell material and the laser. An experiment by NAsA lewis and JPL at the AVLIS laser facility in Livermore, CA presented experimental data on cell performance under pulsed laser illumination. Reference 5 contains an overview of technical issues concerning the use of solar cells for laser power conversion, written before the experiments were performed. As the experimental results showed, the actual effects of pulsed operation are more complicated. Reference 6 discusses simulations of the output of GaAs concentrator solar cells under pulsed laser illumination. The present paper continues this work, and compares the output of Si and GaAs solar cells.

Jain, Raj K.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A Study of Pioneer Venus Nightglow Spectra

The work performed during the 12-month period of this contract involved: (1) further analysis of latitudinal variations in the Venusian NO nightglow intensity from PVOUVS data; (2) corrections made to the input data for the VTGCM model, relating specifically to a factor of three increase in the three-body recombination rate coefficient of N + O; (3) consideration of limits on the rate of reaction of N-atoms with CO2; (4) consideration of the Venusian equivalent of the terrestrial hot N-atom reaction for NO production; and (5) successful location of video images of meteor trails from space, for the purpose of making a comparison with the meteor trail that we have hypothesized as an explanation of intense UV spectra observed on a particular Pioneer Venus (PV) orbit.

Slanger, Tom G.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The 4-Day Wave as Observed from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite Microwave Limb Sounder

The "4-day wave" is an eastward moving quasi-nondispersive feature with period near 4 days occurring near the winter polar stratopause. This paper presents evidence of the 4-day feature in Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) temperature, geopotential height, and ozone data from the late southern winters of 1992 and 1993. Space-time spectral analyses reveal a double-peaked temperature structure consisting of one peak near the stratopause and another in the lower mesosphere, with an out-of-phase relationship between the two peaks. This double- peaked structure is reminiscent of recent three-dimensional barotropic/baroclinic instability model predictions and is observed here for the first time. The height variation of the 4-day ozone signal is shown to compare well with a linear advective-photochemical tracer model. Negative regions of quasigeostrophic potential vorticity (PV) gradient and positive Eliassen-Palm flux divergence are shown to occur, consistent with instability dynamics playing a role in wave forcing. Spectral analyses of PV derived from MLS geopotential height fields reveal a 4-day signal peaking near the polar stratopause. The three-dimensional structure of the 4-day wave resembles the potential vorticity "charge" concept, wherein a PV anomaly in the atmosphere (analogous to an electrical charge in a dielectric material) induces a geopotential field, a vertically oriented temperature dipole, and circulation about the vertical axis.

Allen, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The coherence length of the peculiar velocity field in the universe and the large-scale galaxy correlation data

This study presents a method for obtaining the true rms peculiar flow in the universe on scales up to 100-120/h Mpc using APM data as an input assuming only that peculiar motions are caused by peculiar gravity. The comparison to the local (Great Attractor) flow is expected to give clear information on the density parameter, Omega, and the local bias parameter, b. The observed peculiar flows in the Great Attractor region are found to be in better agreement with the open (Omega = 0.1) universe in which light traces mass (b = 1) than with a flat (Omega = 1) universe unless the bias parameter is unrealistically large (b is not less than 4). Constraints on Omega from a comparison of the APM and PV samples are discussed.

Kashlinsky, A.↗
NASA NTRS2021

The Impact and Recovery of Asteroid 2018 LA

The June 2, 2018 impact of asteroid 2018 LA over Botswana is only the second asteroid detected in space prior to impacting over land. Here, we report on the successful recovery of meteorites. Additional astrometric data refine the approach orbit and define the spin period and shape of the asteroid. Video observations of the fireball constrain the asteroid's position in its orbit and were used to triangulate the location of the fireball's main flare over the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Twenty-three meteorites were recovered. A consortium study of eight of these classifies Motopi Pan as an HED polymict breccia derived from howardite, cumulate and basaltic eucrite, and diogenite lithologies. Before impact, 2018 LA was a solid rock of ~156 cm diameter with high bulk density ~2.85 g cm^(−3), a relatively low albedo pV ~ 0.25, no significant opposition effect on the asteroid brightness, and an impact kinetic energy of ~0.2 kt. The orbit of 2018 LA is consistent with an origin at Vesta (or its Vestoids) and delivery into an Earth-impacting orbit via the ν6 resonance. The impact that ejected 2018 LA in an orbit toward Earth occurred 22.8 ± 3.8 Ma ago. Zircons record a concordant U-Pb age of 4563 ± 11 Ma and a consistent 207Pb/206Pb age of 4563 ± 6 Ma. A much younger Pb-Pb phosphate resetting age of 4234 ± 41 Ma was found. From this impact chronology, we discuss what is the possible source crater of Motopi Pan and the age of Vesta's Veneneia impact basin.

Peter Jenniskens↗
NASA NTRS2014

Tropospheric Ozone Increases over the Southern Africa Region: Bellwether for Rapid Growth in Southern Hemisphere Pollution?

Increases in free-tropospheric (FT) ozone based on ozonesonde records from the early 1990s through 2008 over two subtropical stations, Irene (near Pretoria, South Africa) and Réunion (21 deg. S, 55 deg. E; approx. 2800 km NE of Irene in the Indian Ocean), have been reported. Over Irene a large increase in the urban-influenced boundary layer (BL, 1.5-4 km) was also observed during the 18-year period, equivalent to 30%decade−1. Here we show that the Irene BL trend is at least partly due to a gradual change in the sonde launch times from early morning to the midday period. The FT ozone profiles over Irene in 1990-2007 are re-examined, filling in a 1995-1999 gap with ozone profiles taken during the Measurements of Ozone by Airbus In-service Aircraft (MOZAIC) project over nearby Johannesburg. A multivariate regression model that accounts for the annual ozone cycle, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and possible tropopause changes was applied to monthly averaged Irene data from 4 to 11 km and to 1992-2011 Réunion sonde data from 4 to 15 km. Statistically significant trends appear predominantly in the middle and upper troposphere (UT; 4-11 km over Irene, 4-15 km over Réunion) in winter (June-August), with increases 1 ppbv yr(exp. −1) over Irene and approx. 2 ppbv yr(exp. −1) over Réunion. These changes are equivalent to approx. 25 and 35-45%decade( exp. −1), respectively. Both stations also display smaller positive trends in summer, with a 45%decade(exp. −1) ozone increase near the tropopause over Réunion in December. To explain the ozone increases, we investigated a time series of dynamical markers, e.g., potential vorticity (PV) at 330-350 K. PV affects UT ozone over Irene in November-December but displays little relationship with ozone over Réunion. A more likely reason for wintertime FT ozone increases over Irene and Réunion appears to be long-range transport of growing pollution in the Southern Hemisphere. The ozone increases are consistent with trajectory origins of air parcels sampled by the sondes and with recent NOx emissions trends estimated for Africa, South America and Madagascar. For Réunion trajectories also point to sources from the eastern Indian Ocean and Asia.

Trends↗
NASA NTRS2020

Satellite Beach Energy - Restructuring the Energy Balance in Satellite Beach, Florida, by Quantifying Solar Energy Production Potential using NASA POWER Data Products and LiDAR

The City of Satellite Beach, Florida, has committed to supplying 100% of its energy use from renewable energy, primarily solar, by the year 2050. The team created a methodology for estimating rooftop solar power potential using a high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) dataset and the NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) dataset to assist Satellite Beach in reaching their solar renewable energy goals. The POWER dataset provides information on direct and diffuse solar irradiation on horizontal surfaces, surface albedo, and effects of local meteorology, such as clouds. The team integrated the solar irradiance data with the LiDAR data to model slope, aspect, and shadowing in the 7 km2 study area to find suitable roof segments for solar panel installation and estimate the solar potential of each segment. This process was supplemented by an analysis of land surface temperature and urban greenness measured through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS) observations. These metrics serve to target areas for cooling initiatives aimed at reducing Satellite Beach’s overall energy consumption. The team found the total rooftop solar potential throughout the city to be 221,919,330KWh per year with an average annual rooftop photovoltaic, or PV, potential of 55,647KWh per building. As such, the average building could generate over five times the annual energy needs for an average household if PV panels were installed on all viable areas of its roof.

Spencer Nelson↗
NASA NTRS1990

Space Station Freedom electric power system availability study

The results are detailed of follow-on availability analyses performed on the Space Station Freedom electric power system (EPS). The scope includes analyses of several EPS design variations, these are: the 4-photovoltaic (PV) module baseline EPS design, a 6-PV module EPS design, and a 3-solar dynamic module EPS design which included a 10 kW PV module. The analyses performed included: determining the discrete power levels that the EPS will operate at upon various component failures and the availability of each of these operating states; ranking EPS components by the relative contribution each component type gives to the power availability of the EPS; determining the availability impacts of including structural and long-life EPS components in the availability models used in the analyses; determining optimum sparing strategies, for storing space EPS components on-orbit, to maintain high average-power-capability with low lift-mass requirements; and analyses to determine the sensitivity of EPS-availability to uncertainties in the component reliability and maintainability data used.

Turnquist, Scott R.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Effect of dietary sodium on fluid/electrolyte regulation during bed rest

BACKGROUND: A negative fluid balance during bed rest (BR) is accompanied by decreased plasma volume (PV) which contributes to cardiovascular deconditioning. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that increasing dietary sodium while controlling fluid intake would increase plasma osmolality (POSM), stimulate fluid conserving hormones, and reduce fluid/electrolyte (F/E) losses during BR; conversely, decreasing dietary sodium would decrease POSM, suppress fluid conserving hormones, and increase F/E losses. METHODS: We controlled fluid intake (30 ml x kg(-1) x d(-1)) in 17 men who consumed either a 4.0 +/- 0.06 g x d(-1) (174 mmol x d(-1)) (CONT; n = 6), 1.0 +/- 0.02 g x d(-1) (43 mmol x d(-1)) (LS; n = 6), or 10.0 +/- 0.04 g x d(-1) (430 mmol x d(-1)) (HS; n = 5) sodium diet before, during, and after 21 d of 6 degrees head-down BR. PV, total body water, urine volume and osmolality, POSM, and F/E controlling hormone concentrations were measured. RESULTS: In HS subjects, plasma renin activity (-92%), plasma/urinary aldosterone (-59%; -64%), and PV (-15.0%; 6.0 ml x kg(-1); p < 0.05) decreased while plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (+34%) and urine antidiuretic hormone (+24%) increased during BR (p < 0.05) compared with CONT. In LS, plasma renin activity (+166%), plasma aldosterone (+167%), plasma antidiuretic hormone (+19%), and urinary aldosterone (+335%) increased with no change in PV compared with CONT (p < 0.05). Total body water did not change in any of the subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to our hypothesis, increasing dietary sodium while controlling fluid intake during BR resulted in a greater loss of PV compared with the CONT subjects. Reducing dietary sodium while controlling fluid intake did not alter the PV response during BR compared with CONT subjects.

Clinical Trial↗
NASA NTRS1986

Portable high speed photometry systems for observing occultations

Ring orbit studies for Uranus have been particularly fruitful because of the ability, through occultations, to obtain data of high spatial resolution at the rate of 1 to 2 times per year. The occultation program at M.I.T. involves: (1) identifying the scientific questions that can be answered by occultation events, (2) predicting the zone of visibility for the useful events, (3) maintaining and improving a set of portable high-speed photometric systems, (4) obtaining the observations, and (5) reducing the data and interpreting the results. Two stellar occultations by Uranus occurred in May 1985, and were observed with a network of large telescopes that encompassed the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Portable quartz-oscillator time standards were used at all observatories, and were calibrated before and after each event. Observations obtained form Cerro Tololo and McDonald Observatories of the 4 May and 24 May 1985 occultations by the Uranian rings clearly show a companion to the delta ring on both the immersion and emersion traces. The occultation by Ceres that occurred on 12 November 1984 was observed. Preliminary results give a mean diameter of 933 + or - 10 km, which implies a geometric albedo, Pv = 0.07 + or - 0.01 and a density 2.7 + or - 0.3 gm cu/cm. Hence Ceres is likely composed of silicate material throughout.

Elliot, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A review and summary of cell and module mismatch losses from theoretical and experimental studies

Studies on power loss due to photovoltaic (PV) cell and module parameter mismatch were reviewed. The losses result from the current voltage (I-V) characteristics of cells which vary over a manufactured lot. The peak power and the peak power I-V point vary from cell to cell. The largest parameter variation occurs in the cell photocurrent generation and the most significant loss occurs in series connections since all cells are essentially limited by the lowest photocurrent. Most theoretical studies address only photocurrent variation effects, which consider shunt and series resistance, ideality factor and saturation current to be comparatively insignificant. One study is identified which specifically configured the study of mismatch loss effects. Experimental results consist of estimates based on limited data not taken from specially configured tests.

Lambarski, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Pressure Analysis for LAVA-OVEN

The Lunar Advanced Volatiles Analysis (LAVA) and the Oxygen Volatiles Extraction Node (OVEN) are subsystems included in the Regolith Environment Science, and Oxygen Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE) payload bound for the Moon in 2019. This Resource Prospector Mission (RPM) has the objective of landing on a shadowed region of the Moons South Pole to collect data and determine whether the resources could be effectively used for space exploration systems. The quantification of the resources will help understand if it can adequately minimize materials carried from Earth by: providing life support, propellants, construction materials or energy supply to the payload or crew. This paper outlines the procedures done for the pressure analysis of the LAVA-OVEN (LOVEN) Integration Testing. The pressure analysis quantifies how much gases and water are present in the sample tested during the Engineering Testing Unit (ETU) phase of instrument development. Ultimately the purpose of these tests is to improve the estimate of the amount of water in each Lunar sample and reduce the time necessary for this estimate. The governing principle that was used for the analysis is the Ideal Gas Law, PV=nRT where P stands for pressure, V for volume, n for number of moles, R being the gas constant and T for temperature. We also estimate the errors involved in these measured and derived quantities since a key objective of the mission is to estimate the quantity of volatiles present in the lunar samples introduced into OVEN.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRS1994

Effects of oral glucose on exercise thermoregulation in men after water immersion

To test the hypothesis elevated blood glucose would attenuate the rise in exercise rectal temperature, six men age 35 plus or minus S.D. 7 years participated in each of three trials by 4-hr water immersion to the neck: (1) 2.0 g/kg body wt of oral glucose (33.8 percent wt./vol.) was consumed followed by 80 min controlled rest (Glu/Rest), and 70 min horizontal supine cycle exercise at 62.8 percent plus or minus S.E. 0.5 percent (1.97 plus or minus 0.02 L/min) of peak O2 uptake followed by 10 min recovery (2) with (Glu/Ex) and (3) without prior flucose (No Glu/Ex). Blood samples were taken at -25, 0, 15, 45, and 68 min of exercise and after plus 10 min of recovery for measurement of hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood glucose. Both mean skin (T sub sk) (from six sites) and rectal temperatures (T sub re) were monitored continuously. Sweat rate was measured by resistanc hygrometry. The mean of delta PV for the exercise trials was -12.2 plus or minus 2.1 percent. Mean blood glucose for the Glu/Ex trial was higher than that of the No Glu/Ex trial was (108.4 equal or minus 3.9 and 85.6 plus or minus 1.6 mg/dl, respectively, P less than 0.05. At the end of exercise T(sub sk) for the Glu/Ex trial was lower than for No Glu/Ex(32.0 plus or minus 0.3 and 32.4 equals or minus 0.2 C, respectively, P less than 0.05); T(sub re) for the Glu/Ex trial was lower than for No Glu/Es (38.22 plus or minus 0.17 and 38.60 plus or minus 0.11 C, respectively, P less than 0.05); and forearm sweat rate for the Glu/Ex trial (0.34 plus or minus 0.04 and 0.43 plus or minus g/sq cm, respectively, P less than 0.05). These data suggest that elevation of blood glucose prior to horizontal exercise following hypohydration attenuates the increase in body temperature without altering heat production or exercise hypovolemia.

Dearborn, Alan S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Meso-beta scale numerical simulation studies of terrain-induced jet streak mass and momentum perturbations

An in-depth analysis of observed gravity waves and their relationship to precipitation bands over the Montana mesonetwork during the 11-12 July 1981 CCOPE case study indicated two episodes of coherent waves. While geostrophic adjustment, shearing instability, and terrain were all implicated separately or in combination as possible wave generation mechanisms, the lack of upper-air data within the wave genesis region made it difficult to define the genesis processes from observations alone. The first part of this paper, 3D Numerical Modeling Studies of Terrain-Induced Mass/Momentum Perturbations, employs a mesoscale numerical model to help diagnose the intricate early wave generation mechanisms during the first observed gravity wave episode. The meso-beta scale numerical model is used to study various simulations of the role of multiple geostrophic adjustment processes in focusing a region for gravity wave genesis. The second part of this paper, Linear Theory and Theoretical Modeling, investigates the response of non-resting rotating homogeneous and continuously stratified Boussinesq models of the terrestrial atmosphere to temporally impulsive and uniformly propagating three-dimensional localized zonal momentum sources representative of midlatitude jet streaks. The methods of linear perturbation theory applied to the potential vorticity (PV) and wave field equations are used to study the geostrophic adjustment dynamics. The total zonal and meridional wind perturbations are separated into geostrophic and ageostrophic components in order to define and follow the evolution of both the primary and secondary mesocirculations accompanying midlatitude jetogenesis forced by geostrophic adjustment processes. This problem is addressed to help fill the gap in understanding the dynamics and structure of mesoscale inertia-gravity waves forced by geostrophic adjustment processes in simple two-dimensional quiescent current systems and those produced by mesoscale numerical models simulating the orographic and diabatic perturbation of three-dimensional quasi-geostrophically balanced synoptic scale jet streaks associated with complex baroclinic severe storm producing environments.

Lin, Yuh-Lang↗
NASA NTRS1998

Albumin infusion in humans does not model exercise induced hypervolaemia after 24 hours

We rapidly infused 234 +/- 3 mL of 5% human serum albumin in eight men while measuring haematocrit, haemoglobin concentration, plasma volume (PV), albumin concentration, total protein concentration, osmolality, sodium concentration, renin activity, aldosterone concentration, and atrial natriuretic peptide concentration to test the hypotheses that plasma volume expansion and plasma albumin content expansion will not persist for 24 h. Plasma volume and albumin content were expanded for the first 6 h after infusion (44.3 +/- 1.9-47.2 +/- 2.0 mL kg-1 and 1.9 +/- 0.1-2.1 +/- 0.1 g kg-1 at pre-infusion and 1 h, respectively, P < 0.05), but by 24 h plasma volume and albumin content decreased significantly from 1 h post-infusion and were not different from pre-infusion (44.8 +/- 1.9 mL kg-1 and 1.9 +/- 0.1 g kg-1, respectively). Plasma aldosterone concentration showed a significant effect of time over the 24 h after infusion (P < 0.05), and showed a trend to decrease at 2 h after infusion (167.6 +/- 32.5(-1) 06.2 +/- 13.4 pg mL-1, P = 0.07). These data demonstrate that a 6.8% expansion of plasma volume and 10.5% expansion of plasma albumin content by infusion does not remain in the vascular space for 24 h and suggest a redistribution occurs between the intravascular space and interstitial fluid space.

Non-NASA Center↗