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NASA NTRS1999

Preliminary Global Topographic Model of Mars Based on MOLA Altimetry, Earth-Based Radar, and Viking, Mariner and MGS Occultations

The recent altimetry data acquired by MOLA over the northern hemisphere of Mars have been combined with the Earth-based radar data obtained between 1971 and 1982, and occultation measurements of the Viking 1 and 2 Orbiters, Mariner 9, and MGS to derive a global model of the shape and topography of Mars. This preliminary model has a horizontal resolution of about 300 km. Vertical accuracy is on average a few hundred meters in the region of the data. Datasets: The altimetry and radar datasets were individually binned in 1.25 degree grids and merged with the occultation data. The Viking and Mariner occultation data in the northern hemisphere were excluded from the combined dataset where MOLA altimetry were available. The laser altimetry provided extensive and almost complete coverage of the northern hemisphere north of latitude 30 while the radar provided longitudinal coverage at several latitude bands between 23N and 23S. South of this region the only data were occultations. The majority of the occultations were obtained from Mariner 9, and the rest from Viking 1 & 2, and MGS. Earlier studies had shown that the Viking and Mariner occultations were on average only accurate to 500 meters. The recent MGS occultations are accurate to a few tens of meters. However, the highest southern latitude reached by the MGS occultations is only about 64S and data near the target region for the Mars 98 lander is limited to a few Viking and Mariner observations of relatively poor quality. In addition to the above datasets the locations of the Viking 1, Viking 2, and Pathfinder landers, obtained from the radio tracking of their signals, were included.

Smith, David E.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Large Scale Testing of a Foam/Multilayer Insulation Thermal Control System (TCS) for Cryogenic Upper Stages

The development of high energy cryogenic upper stages is essential for the efficient delivery of large payloads to various destinations envisioned in future programs. A key element in such upper stages is cryogenic fluid management (CFM) advanced development/technology. Due to the cost of and limited opportunities for orbital experiments, ground testing must be employed to the fullest extent possible. Therefore, a system level test bed termed the Multipurpose Hydrogen Test Bed (MHTB), which is representative in size and shape (3 meter diameter by 3 meter long with a volume of 18 cubic meters) of a fully integrated space transportation vehicle liquid hydrogen propellant tank has been established. To date, upper stage studies have often baselined the foam/multilayer insulation (FMLI) combination concept; however, hardware experience with the concept is minimal and was therefore selected for the MHTB. The foam element (isofoam SS-1 171 with an average thickness of 3.5 centimeters) is designed to protect against ground hold/ascent flight environments, and allows for the use of a dry nitrogen purge as opposed to the more complex/heavy helium purge subsystem normally required with MLI in cryogenic applications. The MLI (45 layers of Double Aluminized Mylar with Dacron spacers) provides protection in the vacuum environment of space and is designed for an on-orbit storage period of 45 days. Several unique features were incorporated in the MLI concept and included: variable density MLI (reduces weight and radiation losses by changing the layer density), larger but fewer DAM perforations for venting during ascent to orbit (reduces radiation losses), and roll wrap installation of the MLI with a commercially established process to lower assembly man-hours and reduce seam heat leak. Thermal performance testing of the MHTB TCS was conducted during three test series conducted between September 1995 and May 1996. Results for the ground hold portion of the tests were as expected producing an average heat leak of 63 WattS/M2 at an average foam surface temperature of 170 K. The results of the simulated orbit hold test interval produced heat leaks ranging from 0.085 to 0.22 Watts/squareM at warm boundary temperatures of 164K and 305K, respectively. When compared to the performance for a traditional MLI system, a 60% reduction in orbital heat leak or boiloff was measured. Overall, the MHTB TCS demonstrated satisfactory performance for all mission phases required of a cryogenic upper stage.

Hastings, Leon↗
NASA NTRS1999

Orbit Determination for Mars Global Surveyor During Mapping

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft reached a low-altitude circular orbit on February 4, 1999, after the termination of the second phase of aerobraking. The MGS spacecraft carries the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) whose primary goal is to derive a global, geodetically referenced 0.2 deg x 0.2 deg topographic grid of Mars with a vertical accuracy of better than 30 meters. During the interim science orbits in the' Hiatus mission phase (October - November 1997), and the Science Phasing Orbits (March - April, 1998, and June - July 1998) 208 passes of altimeter data were collected by the MOLA instrument. On March 1, 1999 the first ten orbits of MOLA altimeter data from the near-circular orbit were successfully returned from MGS by the Deep Space Network (DSN). Data will be collected from MOLA throughout the Mapping phase of the MCS mission, or for at least one Mars year (687 days). Whereas the interim orbits of Hiatus and SPO were highly eccentric, and altimeter data were only collected near periapsis when the spacecraft was below 785 km, the Mapping orbit of MGS is near circular, and altimeter data will be collected continuously at a rate of 10 Hz. The proper analysis of the altimeter data requires that the orbit of the MGS spacecraft be known to an accuracy comparable to that of the quality of the altimeter data. The altimeter has an ultimate precision of 30 cm on mostly flat surfaces, so ideally the orbits of the MGS spacecraft should be known to this level. This is a stringent requirement, and more realistic goals of orbit error for MGS are ten to thirty meters. In this paper we will discuss the force and measurement modelling required to achieve this objective. Issues in force modelling include the proper modelling of the gravity field of Mars, and the modelling of non-conservatives forces, including the development of a 'macro-model', in a similar fashion to TOPEX/POSEIDON and TDRSS. During Cruise and Aerobraking, the high gain antenna (HGA) was stowed on the +X face of the spacecraft. On March 29, 1999 the HGA will be deployed on a meter long boom which will remain Earth-pointing while the instrument panel (including the MOLA instrument) remains pointed at nadir. The tracking data must be corrected for the regular motion of the high gain antenna with respect to the center of mass, and the success of the MGS determination during Mapping will depend on correctly accounting for this offset in the measurement model.

Lemoine, F. G.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Next Generation Space Telescope Ultra-Lightweight Mirror Program

The Next Generation Space Telescope is currently envisioned as a eight meter diameter cryogenic deployable telescope that will operate at the earth sun libration point L2. A number of different designs are being examined within NASA and under industry studies by Ball Aerospace, Lockheed-Martin and TRW. Although these designs differ in many respects, they all require significant advancements in the state-of-the-art with respect to large diameter, ultra-lightweight, mirrors. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the current status of the mirror development program NGST is a tremendously ambitious undertaking that sets the mark for new NASA missions. In order to achieve the weight, cost and performance requirements of NGST, the primary mirror must be made lighter, cheaper and better than anything that has ever been done. In order to accomplish this an aggressive technology program has been put in place. The scope of the program was determined by examining historically what has been accomplished; assessing recent technological advances in fabrication and testing; and evaluating the effect of these advances relative to enabling the manufacture of lightweight mirrors that meet NGST requirements. As it is currently envisioned, the primary mirror for NGST is on the order of eight meters in diameter, it is to be diffraction limited at a wave length of 2 microns and has an overall weight requirement of 15 kilograms per square meter. Two large scale demonstration projects are under way along with a number of smaller scale demonstrations on a variety of mirror materials and concepts. The University of Arizona (UA) mirror concept is based around a 2mm thick Borosilicate glass face sheet mounted to a composite backplane structure via actuators for mirror figure correction. The Composite Optics Inc.(COI) concept consists of a 3.2mm thick Zerodur face sheet bonded to a composite support structure which in turn is mounted to a composite backplane structure via actuators for mirror phasing. These mirrors are due to be performance tested in ambient conditions in the fall of '98, and cryogenically tested in the spring of '99. The smaller scale efforts include the following: Beryllium is being investigated at Ball Aerospace, Electroform nickel is being investigated in-house at MSFC, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Silicon Carbide (SiC) is being investigated at Morton International Silicon mirrors are being investigated at Schafer, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Silicon Carbide (CSIC) is being investigated at IABG. SiC at SSG, Composite mirrors at COI, pyrolyzed graphite mirrors at Ultramet, reaction bonded SiC mirrors at Xinetics, along with techniques for lightweighting using waterjets at Waterjet Technology Inc. are all being investigated under the Small Business innovative Research Program SBIR program. A procurement for a third large scale demonstration (nominally 1.5m in diameter) is being planned for release this fall.

Bilbro, James W.↗
NASA NTRS1995

An Investigation of Multipath Effects on the GPS System During Auto-Rendezvous and Capture

The proposed use of a Cargo Transport Vehicle (CTV) to carry hardware to the Space Station Freedom (SSF) during the construction phase of the SSF project requires remote maneuvering of the CTV. The CTV is not a manned vehicle. Obtaining the relative positions of the CTV and SSF for remote auto-rendezvous and capture (AR&C) scenarios will rely heavily on the Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS system is expected to guide the CTV up to a distance of 100 to 300 meters from the SSF. At some point within this range, an optical docking system will take over the remote guidance for capture. During any remote guidance by GPS it is possible that significant multipath signals may be caused by large objects in the vicinity of the module being remotely guided. This could alter the position obtained by the GPS system from the actual position. Due to the nature of the GPS signals, it has been estimated that if the difference in distance between the Line of Sight (LOS) path and the multipath is greater than 300 meters, the GPS system is capable of discriminating between the direct signal and the reflected (or multipath) signal. However, if the path difference is less than 300 meters, one must be concerned. This report details the work accomplished by the Electromagnetic Simulations Laboratory at Marquette University over the period December 1993 to May 1995. This work is an investigation of the strength and phase of a multipath signal arriving at the CTV relative to the direct or line of sight (LOS) signal. The signal originates at a GPS satellite in half geo-stationary orbit and takes two paths to the CTV: (1) the direct or LOS path from the GPS satellite to the CTV; and (2) a scattered path from the GPS satellite to the SSF module and then to the CTV. The scattering from a cylinder has been computed using the physical optics approximation for the current. No other approximations or assumptions have been made including no assumptions regarding the far field or Fresnel field approximations. The integrations required to obtain the scattered field have been computed numerically using an N dimensional Romberg integration. The total scattered electric field is then projected onto the RCP component in the direction of propagation only. The direct or line of sight signal is then used to compute the relative strength and phase of the scattered field. The trajectory of the CTV has been parameterized into 4,214 points that are calculated for each of the geometries investigated. The motion of the CTV between points is small enough for the magnitude data (dB down from direct signal) to appear very smooth; however, because of the distances and wavelengths involved, the phase of the scattered field relative to the direct signal varies very rapidly.

Richie, James E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Gas and Dust Properties in Dwarf Irregular Galaxies

We present a study of the 158 (micron)meter [C II] fine structure emission line from a sample of 11 low metallicity irregular galaxies using the NASA Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). Our preliminary results demonstrate that the ratio of the 158 (micron)meter [C II] emission to the CO-12(1 yields 0) emission ranges from 6,000 to 46,000. These ratios are significantly enhanced relative to clouds within the Galaxy and to normal metallicity galaxies, which typically have values in the range 2,000 to 6,300. We also find that the [C II] emission in dwarf irregular galaxies can be up to 5% of the far-infrared (FIR) emission, a higher fraction of the FIR than in normal metallicity galaxies. We discuss these results for the dwarf irregular galaxies and compare them to those observed in normal metallicity galaxies. The enhanced 158 (micron)meter [C II] emission relative to CO-12(1 yields 0) emission can be understood in terms of the increased penetration depth of ultraviolet (UV) photons into the clouds in low metallicity environments.

Jones, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Spring and Summer Changes at the South Pole as Seen by the Mars Orbiter Camera

The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft has been able to follow individual features as the CO2 frost disappears and exposes the material underneath. Because the orbit of MGS is inclined at an angle of 93 degrees relative to the equator, the spacecraft gets especially good coverage of the ring at 87 degrees latitude. The following is a list of phenomena that have been seen during the spring and summer at the South Pole: (1) Circular depressions that are approximately ten meters deep and hundreds of meters in diameter. They are found only within the residual polar cap, the part that survives the summer. The high areas between the depressions are flat-topped mesas whose sides are concave circular arcs. In some places the depressions form patterns that exhibit north-south symmetry, suggesting some control by sunlight; (2) Dark layers that are exposed on the walls of the mesas. Each layer is at most a few meters thick. The dark layers might accumulate during climatic episodes of high atmospheric dust content, or they might accumulate during the annual cycling of dusty CO2; (3) Albedo differences that develop during the summer within the residual cap. These include subtle darkening of the floors of the depressions relative to the mesas and occasional major darkening of the floors, especially near the edge of the cap. The floors and mesas form a distinct stratum, suggesting they represent a distinct compositional boundary. For instance the floors may be water and the mesas may be CO2; (4) Small dark features that appear in spring on the seasonal frost outside the residual cap. Some of the features have parallel tails that are clearly shaped by the wind. Others are more symmetric, like dark snowflakes, with multiple branching arms. After the CO2 frost has disappeared the arms are seen as troughs and the centers as topographic lows; (5) Polygons whose sides are dark troughs. Those that are outside the residual cap seem to disappear when the frost disappears. The polygons and the dark snowflakelike structures may be related, and suggest that CO2 frost may form cohesive slabs; (6) Irregular depressions outside the residual cap. They look like degraded versions of the circular depressions inside the residual cap, and may be a remnant of the cap's changing location; and (7) Areas of burial and exhumation of circular depressions. Thomas et al. give an example with a sharp boundary: On one side the depressions are buried and on the other side they are exposed. In other cases there are rounded troughs up to one kilometer wide, which are dark in summer and appear to have eroded down below the floor of the circular depressions.

Ingersoll, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS2000

A Subsurface Explorer for Deep Underground Exploration on Mars

A subsurface explorer (SSX) is being developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory which is suitable for exploration of the deep underground environments on Mars. The device is a self-contained piledriver which uses a novel 'spinning hammer' technology to convert a small continuous power feed from the surface over a two-wire tether into a large rotational energy of a spinning mass. The rotational energy is converted to translational energy by a novel mechanism described here. The hammer blows propagate as shock waves through a nosepiece, pulverizing the medium ahead of the SSX. A small portion of the pulverized medium is returned to the surface through a hole liner extending behind the SSX. This tube is 'cast in place' from two chemical feedstocks which come down from the surface through passages in the hole liner and which are reacted together to produce new material with which to produce the hole liner. The lined hole does not need to be the full diameter of the SSX: approximately 100 kilograms of liner material can create a tunnel liner with a three millimeter inside diameter and a six millimeter outside diameter with at total length of four kilometers. Thus it is expected that core samples representing an overlapping set of three-millimeter diameter cores extending the entire length of the SSX traverse could be returned to the surface. A pneumatic prototype has been built which penetrated easily to the bottom of an eight meter vertical test facility. An electric prototype is now under construction. It is expected that the SSX will be able to penetrate through sand or mixed regolith, ice, permafrost, or solid rock, such as basalt. For pure or nearly pure ice applications, the device may be augmented with hot water jets to melt the ice and stir any sediment which may build up ahead of the vehicle. It is expected that an SSX approximately one meter long, three to four centimeters in diameter, and with a power budget of approximately 200 Watts will be able to explore up to approximately five kilometers deep at the rate of about ten meters per day.

Wilcox, B. H.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A New Era in Geodesy and Cartography: Implications for Landing Site Operations

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) global dataset has ushered in a new era for Mars local and global geodesy and cartography. These data include the global digital terrain model (Digital Terrain Model (DTM) radii), the global digital elevation model (Digital Elevation Model (DEM) elevation with respect to the geoid), and the higher spatial resolution individual MOLA ground tracks. Currently there are about 500,000,000 MOLA points and this number continues to grow as MOLA continues successful operations in orbit about Mars, the combined processing of radiometric X-band Doppler and ranging tracking of MGS together with millions of MOLA orbital crossover points has produced global geodetic and cartographic control having a spatial (latitude/longitude) accuracy of a few meters and a topographic accuracy of less than 1 meter. This means that the position of an individual MOLA point with respect to the center-of-mass of Mars is know to an absolute accuracy of a few meters. The positional accuracy of this point in inertial space over time is controlled by the spin rate uncertainty of Mars which is less than 1 km over 10 years that will be improved significantly with the next landed mission.

Duxbury, T. C.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Co-Investigator Proposal for Enstrophy - - Filamentation of Auroral Currents

Cornell University provided three instruments for the Enstrophy experiment: an electric field meter, a plasma wave receiver, and a magnetometer for measuring FAC. The electric field meter consisted of a 6 m Weitzmann boom system with analog signal processing and 12 bit ADC, which yielded one electric field component instantaneously and a two dimensional electric field every half spin. The plasma wave receiver used the same sensing system with the addition of pre-amplifiers in the spheres to sense plasma waves up to and including the electron Langmuir frequency. Signal processing employed a variety of continuous and snap shot techniques depending on the frequency range and band width. The science magnetometer provided by Cornell University was a Billingsly design fluxgate previously used on spacecraft missions but without radiation hardening. The magnetometer was mounted on a one meter, stiff aluminum "flop-down" boom. The Enstrophy payload was launched on february 11, 1999. Because of a design flaw in the event timers, the magnetometer boom was deployed before the payload despun. As a result the magnetometer separated mechanically from the boom but maintained electrical connection. This was confirmed by the calculation of the scalar magnetic field from all three vector components of the magnetic field. However, the individual vector values had no scientific value. The electric field and plasma wave instrumentation worked as designed. The data from these instruments was provided to the University of New Hampshire and to the Principal Investigator, as proposed.

Kintner, Paul M.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Uncertainties of the Intensity of the 1130 nm Band of Water Vapor

Belmiloud, et al have recently suggested that the HITRAN line intensities in the 1130 nm water vapor band are much too weak. Giver, et at corrected unit conversion errors to make the HITRAN intensities compatible with the original measurements of Mandin, et al, but Belmiloud, et al believe that many of those line intensity measurements were too weak, and they propose the total intensity of the 1130 nm water vapor band is 38% stronger than the sum of the HITRAN line intensities in this region. We have made independent assessments of this proposal using 2 spectra obtained with the Ames 25 meter base path White cell. The first was made using the moderate resolution (8 nm) solar spectral flux radiometer (SSFR) flight instrument with a White cell absorbing path of 506 meters and 10 torr water vapor pressure. Modeling this spectrum using the HITRAN linelist gives a reasonable match, and the model is not compatible when the HITRAN line intensities are increased by 38%. The second spectrum was obtained with a White cell path of 1106 meters and 12 torr water vapor pressure, using a Bomem FTIR with near Doppler width resolution. This spectrum is useful for measuring intensities of isolated weak lines to compare with the measurements of Mandin, et al. Unfortunately, as Belmiloud et al point out, at these conditions the strong lines are much too saturated for good intensity measurements. Our measurements of the weak lines are in reasonable agreement with those of Mandin, et al. Neither of our spectra supports the proposal of Belmiloud et al for a general 38% increase of the absorption intensity in the 1130 nm water vapor band.

Giver, L. P.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Cloud Microphysics in Hurricane Outflows: Observations in 'Bonnie' (1998) at 12 km Altitude

The water balance of a hurricane is controlled by boundary layer inflow, near vertical motion in the eyewall causing coalescence precipitation at above and residual ice precipitation at below freezing temperatures, and cirrus outflow at below -40 C aloft. In this paper we address the question of efficiency of water removal by this cirrus outflow which is important for the release of latent heat at high altitudes and its role in the dynamic flow at that level. During NASA's 1998 Convection and Moisture Experiment campaign we acquired microphysical outflow data in order to (1) determine the release and redistribution of latent heat near the top of hurricanes, (2) aid in TRMM algorithm development for remote sensing of precipitation, and (3) determine the optical/radiative characteristics of hurricane outflow. The data were acquired with Particle Measuring Systems two dimensional imaging spectrometers. On 23 August and again during the hurricane's landfall on 26 August, 1998, the NASA DC-8 aircraft penetrated hurricane 'Bonnie' four times each near 200 hPa pressure altitude. The eye crossing times were determined by (1) zero counts of cloud particles, (2) approximately 5 C increases in static and potential temperatures, and (3) minima in speeds and changes of direction of horizontal winds. The vertical winds showed shear between -6 m per second and +4 m per second and tangential winds approached 30 m per second in the eyewall. The particle volumes in the eyewall (determined by the pixels the particles shadowed in the direction of flight [x-direction] and normally to it by the number of diodes that they shadowed [y-direction]) ranged between 0.5 and 5.0 cubic centimeters per cubic meter. With a particle density near 0.2 g per cubic centimeter (determined from in situ melting and evaporation on a surface collector), the 1.0 g per meter corresponding mass of cloud ice ranged between 0.27 and 2.7 g per kilograms yielding horizontal fluxes between 8.1 and 81 g per square meters per second. The outflow ice was concentrated in crystals of a modal size of 190 micrometers. The particle size distributions were heavily skewed toward sizes with 98% of all cirrus particles smaller than the modal size comprising, however, only 20% of the mass. Thus the smaller than modal size particles dominantly affected the optical/radiative characteristics of the cloud, whereas the larger than modal size crystals determined the ice mass, hence dominated latent heating. Questions to be addressed relate to the origin of individual ice particles as the hurricane evolved and the likelihood of pristine and aggregate particle formation under the complicated conditions of rotation and outflow in the eyewall.

Pueschel, Rudolf F.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Rover Deployed Ground Penetrating Radar on Mars

Radar is a fundamental tool capable of addressing a variety of geological problems on Mars via collection of data suitable for interpreting variations in surface morphology and reflectivity. Surface-deployed ground penetrating radar (GPR) can help further constrain the geology and structure of the near surface of Mars by directly measuring the range and character of in situ radar properties. In recognition of this potential, a miniaturized, easily modified GPR is being developed for possible deployment on a future Mars rover and will enable definition of radar stratigraphy at high spatial resolution to depths of 10-20 meters. Ongoing development of a Mars impulse GPR with industry partners at Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc., focuses on design and testing of a prototype transducer array (with both high frequency bistatic and low frequency monostatic components) in parallel with fabrication of a low power, mass, and volume control unit. The operational depth of 10-20 meters is geared towards definition of stratigraphy, subsurface blocks, and structure at the decimeter to meter scale that is critical for establishing the geologic setting of the rover. GPR data can also be used to infer the degree of any post-depositional pedogenic alteration or weathering that has subsequently taken place, thereby enabling assessment of pristine versus secondary morphology at the landing site. As is the case for most remote sensing instruments, a GPR may not detect water unambiguously. Nevertheless, any local, near-surface occurrence of liquid water will lead to large, easily detected dielectric contrasts. Moreover, definition of stratigraphy and setting will help in evaluating the history of aqueous activity and where any water might occur and be accessible. Most importantly perhaps, GPR can provide critical context for other rover and orbital instruments/data sets. Hence, GPR deployment along well positioned transects in the vicinity of a lander should enable 3-D mapping of stratigraphy and could serve to guide direct subsurface sampling. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Grant, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Lightweight Lidar Telescopes for Space Applications

NASA is intent on exploiting the unique perspective of space-based remote optical instruments to observe and study large-scale environmental processes. Emphasis on smaller and more affordable missions continues to force the remote sensing instruments to find innovative ways to reduce the size, weight, and cost of the sensor package. This is a challenge because many of the proposed instruments incorporate a high quality meter-class telescope that can be a significant driver of total instrument costs. While various methods for telescope weight reduction have been achieved, many of the current approaches rely on exotic materials and specialized manufacturing techniques that limit availability or substantially increase costs. A competitive lightweight telescope technology that is especially well suited to space-based coherent Doppler wind lidar has been developed through a collaborative effort involving NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) through the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) at the Center for Applied Optics (CAO). The new lightweight optics using metal alloy shells and surfaces (LOMASS) fabrication approach is suitable for high quality metal mirrors and meter-class telescopes. Compared to alternative materials and fabrication methods the new approach promises to reduce the areal density of a meter-class telescope to less than 15-kg/sq m; deliver a minimum VIO-RMS surface optical quality; while using commercial materials and equipment to lower procurement costs. The final optical figure and finish is put into the mirrors through conventional diamond turning and polishing techniques. This approach is especially advantageous for a coherent lidar instrument because the reduced telescope weight permits the rotation of the telescope to scan the beam without requiring heavy wedges or additional large mirrors. Ongoing investigations and preliminary results show promise for the LOMASS approach to be successful in demonstrating a novel alternative approach to fabricating lightweight mirrors with performance parameters comparable with the Space Readiness Coherent Lidar Experiment (SPARCLE). Development and process characterization is continuing with the design and fabrication of mirrors for a 25-cm telescope suitable for a lidar instrument.

Peters, Bruce R.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Laboratory Measurements of the 940, 1130, and 1370 nm Water Vapor Absorption Band Profiles

We have used the solar spectral flux radiometer (SSFR) flight instrument with the Ames 25 meter base-path White cell to obtain about 20 moderate resolution (8 nm) pure water vapor spectra from 650 to 1650 nm, with absorbing paths from 806 to 1506 meters and pressures up to 14 torr. We also obtained a set at 806 meters with several different air-broadening pressures. Model simulations were made for the 940, 1130, and 1370 nm absorption bands for some of these laboratory conditions using the Rothman, et al HITRAN-2000 linelist. This new compilation of HITRAN includes new intensity measurements for the 940 nm region. We compared simulations for our spectra of this band using HITRAN-2000 with simulations using the prior HITRAN-1996. The simulations of the 1130 nm band show about 10% less absorption than we measured. There is some evidence that the total intensity of this band is about 38% stronger than the sum of the HITRAN line intensities in this region. In our laboratory conditions the absorption depends approximately on the square root of the intensity. Thus, our measurements agree that the band is stronger than tabulated in HITRAN, but by about 20%, substantially less than the published value. Significant differences have been shown between Doppler-limited resolution spectra of the 1370 nm band obtained at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and HITRAN simulations. Additional new intensity measurements in this region are continuing to be made. We expect the simulations of our SSFR lab data of this band will show the relative importance of improving the HITRAN line intensities of this band for atmospheric measurements.

Giver, Lawrence P.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Remote Sensing of Cloud, Aerosol, and Water Vapor Properties from MODIS

MODIS is an earth-viewing cross-track scanning spectroradiometer launched on the Terra satellite in December 1999. MODIS scans a swath width sufficient to provide nearly complete global coverage every two days from a polar orbiting, sun-synchronous, platform at an altitude of 705 kilometers, and provides images in 36 spectral bands between 0.415 and 14.235 micrometers with spatial resolutions of 250 meters (2 bands), 500 meters (5 bands) and 1000 meters (29 bands). These bands have been carefully selected to enable advanced studies of land, ocean, and atmospheric processes. In this presentation we review the comprehensive set of remote sensing algorithms that have been developed for the remote sensing of atmospheric properties using MODIS data, placing primary emphasis on the principal atmospheric applications of (i) developing a cloud mask for distinguishing clear sky from clouds, (ii) retrieving global cloud radiative and microphysical properties, including cloud top pressure and temperature, effective emissivity, cloud optical thickness, thermodynamic phase, and effective radius, (iii) monitoring tropospheric aerosol optical thickness over the land and ocean and aerosol size distribution over the ocean, (iv) determining atmospheric profiles of moisture and temperature, and (v) estimating column water amount. The physical principles behind the determination of each of these atmospheric products will be described, together with an example of their application using MODIS observations. All products are archived into two categories: pixel-level retrievals (referred to as Level-2 products) and global gridded products at a latitude and longitude resolution of 1 degree (Level-3 products). An overview of the MODIS atmosphere algorithms and products, status, validation activities, and early level-2 and -3 results will be presented.

King, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Observations of Sea Surface Mean Square Slope During the Southern Ocean Waves Experiment

For the Southern Ocean Waves Experiment (SOWEX), conducted in June 1992 out of Hobart, Tasmania, the NASA Scanning Radar Altimeter (SRA) was shipped to Australia and installed on a CSIRO Fokker F-27 research aircraft instrumented to make comprehensive surface layer measurements of air-sea interaction fluxes. The SRA sweeps a radar beam of P (two-way) half-power width across the aircraft ground track over a swath equal to 0.8 of the aircraft height, simultaneously measuring the backscattered power at its 36 GHz (8.3 mm) operating frequency and the range to the sea surface at 64 cross-track positions. In realtime, the slant ranges are multiplied by the cosine of the off-nadir incidence angles (including the effect of aircraft roll attitude) to determine the vertical distances from the aircraft to the sea surface. These distances are subtracted from the aircraft height to produce a sea-surface elevation map, which is displayed on a monitor in the aircraft to enable real-time assessments of data quality and wave properties. The sea surface mean square slope (mss), which is predominantly caused by the short waves, was determined from the backscattered power falloff with incidence angle measured by the SRA in the plane normal to the aircraft heading. On each flight, data were acquired at 240 m altitude while the aircraft was in a 7 degree roll attitude, interrogating off-nadir incidence angles from -15 degrees through nadir to +29 degrees. The aircraft turned azimuthally through 810 degrees in this attitude, mapping the azimuthal dependence of the backscattered power falloff with incidence angle. Two sets of turning data were acquired on each day, before and after the aircraft measured wind stress at low altitude (12 meters to 65 meters). Wave topography and backscattered power for mss were also acquired during those level flight segments whenever the aircraft altitude was above the SRA minimum range of 35 m. Data were collected over a wide range of wind and sea conditions, from quiescent to gale force winds with 9 meter wave height.

Walsh, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Multi-Band Analytical Algorithm for Deriving Absorption and Backscattering Coefficients from Remote-Sensing Reflectance of Optically Deep Waters

A multi-band analytical (MBA) algorithm is developed to retrieve absorption and backscattering coefficients for optically deep waters, which can be applied to data from past and current satellite sensors, as well as data from hyperspectral sensors. This MBA algorithm applies a remote-sensing reflectance model derived from the Radiative Transfer Equation, and values of absorption and backscattering coefficients are analytically calculated from values of remote-sensing reflectance. There are only limited empirical relationships involved in the algorithm, which implies that this MBA algorithm could be applied to a wide dynamic range of waters. Applying the algorithm to a simulated non-"Case 1" data set, which has no relation to the development of the algorithm, the percentage error for the total absorption coefficient at 440 nm a (sub 440) is approximately 12% for a range of 0.012 - 2.1 per meter (approximately 6% for a (sub 440) less than approximately 0.3 per meter), while a traditional band-ratio approach returns a percentage error of approximately 30%. Applying it to a field data set ranging from 0.025 to 2.0 per meter, the result for a (sub 440) is very close to that using a full spectrum optimization technique (9.6% difference). Compared to the optimization approach, the MBA algorithm cuts the computation time dramatically with only a small sacrifice in accuracy, making it suitable for processing large data sets such as satellite images. Significant improvements over empirical algorithms have also been achieved in retrieving the optical properties of optically deep waters.

Lee, Zhong-Ping↗