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At least 1,729 records · Page 96
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

A New Study of Sea Spray Optical Properties from Multi-Sensor Spaceborne Observations

Retrievals of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) satellite sensor require the assumption of an extinction-to-backscatter ratio, also known as the lidar ratio. This paper evaluates a new method to calculate lidar ratio of sea spray aerosol using two independent sources: the AOD from Synergized Optical Depth of Aerosols (SODA) and the integrated attenuated backscatter from CALIOP. The method applied in this study allows particulate lidar ratio to be calculated for individual CALIOP retrievals of single aerosol layer columns over the ocean. Analyses are carried out using CALIOP level 2, 5km sea spray aerosol layer products and collocated SODA nighttime data from December 2007 to December 2009. The global mean lidar ratio for sea spray aerosols was found to be 26 sr, roughly 30 higher than the one prescribed by CALIOP. Data analysis also showed considerable spatiotemporal variability in calculated lidar ratio over different parts of the remote oceans. The calculated aerosol lidar ratios are shown to be inversely related to the mean ocean surface wind speed: increase in ocean surface wind speed (U10) from 0 to 15 ms-1 reduces the mean lidar ratios for sea spray particles from 32 sr (for 0 U10 4 ms-1) to 22 sr (for U10 15 ms-1). Such changes in the lidar ratio are expected to have a corresponding effect on sea spray AOD. The outcomes of this study are relevant for future improvements of the SODA and CALIOP operational product and could lead to more accurate retrievals of sea spray AOD.

aerosol optical depth↗
NASA NTRS2014

Independent Verification of Mars-GRAM 2010 with Mars Climate Sounder Data

The Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) is an engineering-level atmospheric model widely used for diverse mission and engineering applications. Applications of Mars-GRAM include systems design, performance analysis, and operations planning for aerobraking, entry, descent and landing, and aerocapture. Atmospheric influences on landing site selection and long-term mission conceptualization and development can also be addressed utilizing Mars-GRAM. Mars-GRAM's perturbation modeling capability is commonly used, in a Monte Carlo mode, to perform high-fidelity engineering end-to-end simulations for entry, descent, and landing. Mars-GRAM is an evolving software package resulting in improved accuracy and additional features. Mars-GRAM 2005 has been validated against Radio Science data, and both nadir and limb data from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). From the surface to 80 km altitude, Mars-GRAM is based on the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM). Above 80 km, Mars-GRAM is based on the University of Michigan Mars Thermospheric General Circulation Model (MTGCM). The most recent release of Mars-GRAM 2010 includes an update to Fortran 90/95 and the addition of adjustment factors. These adjustment factors are applied to the input data from the MGCM and the MTGCM for the mapping year 0 user-controlled dust case. The adjustment factors are expressed as a function of height (z), latitude and areocentric solar longitude (Ls).

Justh, Hilary L.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Updates to a Preliminary Probabilistic Performance Assessment Model for Radiological and Chemical Contamination at the West Valley Site, New York - 20420

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is the owner of the Western New York Nuclear Service Center (WNYNSC), a 1,351-ha site located approximately 48 km south of Buffalo, New York. In 1962, Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) entered into agreements with the Atomic Energy Commission and New York State to construct the first commercial reprocessing plant of nuclear fuel in the United States at the WNYNSC. NFS built and operated the spent fuel reprocessing plant and waste disposal facilities, processing 640 Mg (640 metric tons) of spent nuclear fuel from 1966 to 1972 under an Atomic Energy Commission license. Nuclear fuel reprocessing operations halted in 1972 and never restarted, leaving behind radioactive and chemical wastes. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was required to complete certain waste management activities under the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Act of 1980 including decommissioning of WVDP facilities. As collaborating agencies, NYSERDA and the DOE are tasked with making decisions about decommissioning and risk reduction for the West Valley Site. Neptune and Company, Inc. (Neptune) was contracted to develop a probabilistic performance assessment (PPA) model to assist the agencies in their decision making process for decommissioning the WVDP and WNYNSC. One important tool that is needed in order to inform the decision-making process is a science-based model of the West Valley Site that evaluates potential future consequences for human health and the environment. This forms the core of the spatial domain of the West Valley PPA Model. The PPA Model, developed using the GoldSim system modeling software, is a tool intended to provide support for decision making that evaluates uncertainty, in a manner that is transparent, defensible, and robust. The PPA Model includes contaminant transport and health effects components, and is organized around geographically-grouped contaminated facilities. These include the waste disposal areas licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the State of New York, a waste tank farm for storage of high level radioactive waste resulting from reprocessing operations, and several areas contaminated with radioactive and chemical constituents. The PPA Model evaluates contaminant transport from these sources to points of exposure across the site and into receiving surface waters and sediments. Hypothetical people and wildlife could be exposed to contamination at these locations, and the effects of these exposures are evaluated. Contaminant transport processes to be evaluated in the PPA Model include groundwater and surface water transport, contaminant translocation by plants and animals, diffusion, and erosion. The evaluation of exposures to people in this preliminary model is limited to a resident farmer scenario, and ecological assessment is performed at the level of a screening analysis. The results of these preliminary evaluations inform future model developments. PPA Model results are subjected to sensitivity analysis in order to determine those pathways and parameters that are most significant in influencing the results. This information allows analysts and decision makers to focus on those aspects of Site behavior and processes. With this information, the decision makers can drive informed, defensible decisions regarding decommissioning of the Site. This paper includes an update of the information presented at WM2019 [1]. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Combined Cr and S poisoning behaviors of La 1-x Sr x MnO 3±δ and La 1-x Sr x Co 1-y FeyO 3-δ cathodes in solid oxide fuel cells

Although the individual effects of airborne Cr and S contaminants on SOFC cathode performance degradation have been extensively studied, the combined effects of Cr and S contaminants remain largely unexplored. Under the real SOFC operating condition where the Cr and S species coexist, their effects may compete, affecting the poisoning behavior. Here, our investigation reveals that the combined Cr and S poisoning behavior of LSCF remains different from those of individual Cr and S poisonings, while the combined poisoning mechanism of LSM is equivalent to the sum of those of individual Cr and S effects. For LSCF electrode, gaseous Cr species are deposited mainly at the LSCF/GDC interface by electrochemical reduction, rather than forming SrCrO 4 on LSCF surfaces (as in the case of Cr-only poisoning), indicating no reaction between Cr vapors and SrO on the LSCF surface. Thermodynamic analysis demonstrates that the SrO on LSCF surface absorbs SO 2 (g) and thereby loses the Cr-gettering effect, allowing Cr vapors to flow through LSCF and to reach the LSCF/GDC interface where the Cr deposition occurs. Unlike LSCF, LSM electrode shows cumulative effects of Cr and S, as Cr accumulation occurs at the triple-phase boundary and S absorption takes place at localized Sr-rich regions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Thermal stability and coalescence dynamics of exsolved metal nanoparticles at charged perovskite surfaces

Exsolution reactions enable the synthesis of oxide-supported metal nanoparticles, which are desirable as catalysts in green energy conversion technologies. It is crucial to precisely tailor the nanoparticle characteristics to optimize the catalysts’ functionality, and to maintain the catalytic performance under operation conditions. We use chemical (co)-doping to modify the defect chemistry of exsolution-active perovskite oxides and examine its influence on the mass transfer kinetics of Ni dopants towards the oxide surface and on the subsequent coalescence behavior of the exsolved nanoparticles during a continuous thermal reduction treatment. Nanoparticles that exsolve at the surface of the acceptor-type fast-oxygen-ion-conductor SrTi 0.95 Ni 0.05 O 3–δ (STNi) show a high surface mobility leading to a very low thermal stability compared to nanoparticles that exsolve at the surface of donor-type SrTi 0.9 Nb 0.05 Ni 0.05 O 3–δ (STNNi). Our analysis indicates that the low thermal stability of exsolved nanoparticles at the acceptor-doped perovskite surface is linked to a high oxygen vacancy concentration at the nanoparticle-oxide interface. For catalysts that require fast oxygen exchange kinetics, exsolution synthesis routes in dry hydrogen conditions may hence lead to accelerated degradation, while humid reaction conditions may mitigate this failure mechanism.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Identification of a window for quiescent H-mode operation in MHD stability diagram of DIII-D plasmas

A window for quiescent H-mode (QH-mode) operation in DIII-D plasmas in the diagram of pedestal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability was identified through linear MHD stability analysis, accounting for the effects of plasma rotation and ion diamagnetic drift. The operation window lies between the stability boundaries of the kink/peeling mode (K/PM) identified with and without the inclusion of plasma rotation effects. In this region, the mode remains unstable unless rotation effects are considered alongside the ion diamagnetic drift, which is consistently included in the analysis. The stabilization of the MHD mode, facilitated by the coupled effects of plasma rotation and ion diamagnetic drift, plays a crucial role in widening the window, enabling the attainment of the QH-mode state. Furthermore, the suppression of edge localized modes (ELM) can be achieved by controlling the pedestal structure to ensure the plasma state remains within the operation window. The location of the operation window in the stability diagram depends on the K/PM stability properties. Therefore, optimizing conditions for QH-mode requires adjustments based on changes in stability characteristics. A pressure pedestal and its associated bootstrap current density near the last closed flux surface are advantageous for situating the plasma state within the window. However, excessive current density can trigger ELMs. This trend was confirmed through comparisons of MHD stability diagrams between QH-mode and ELMy H-mode plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1992

Activated transport in AMTEC electrodes

Transport of alkali, metal atoms through porous cathodes of alkali metal thermal-to-electric converter (AMTEC) cells is responsible for significant reducible losses in the electrical performance of these cells. Experimental evidence for activated transport of metal atoms at grain surfaces and boundaries within some AMTEC electrodes has been derived from temperature dependent studies as well as from analysis of the detailed frequency dependence of ac impedance results for other electrodes, including thin, mature molybdenum electrodes which exhibit transport dominated by free molecular flow of sodium gas at low frequencies or dc conditions. Activated surface transport will almost always exist in parallel with free molecular flow transport, and the process of alkali atom adsorption/desorption from the electrode surface will invariably be part of the transport process, and possibly a dominant part in some cases. The temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient of the alkali metal through the electrode in several cases provides an activation energy and preexponential, but at least two activated processes may be operative, and the activation parameters should be expected to depend on the alkali metal activity gradient that the electrode experiences. In the case of Pt/W/Mn electrodes operated for 2500 hours, limiting currents varied with electrode thickness, and the activation parameters could be assigned primarily to the surface/grain boundary diffusion process.

Williams, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Radar Analysis and Visualization Environment (RAVEN): Software for polarimetric radar analysis

Imaging radar data provides information about the geometric and dielectric properties of the Earth's surface. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) polarimetric Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) is currently obtaining imaging radar data for use in geologic, vegetation, snow and ice, and ocean studies. In the near future, the Shuttle Imaging Radar C (SIR-C/X-SAR) and the Earth Observing System Synthetic Aperture Radar (EOS SAR) will also collect polarimetric radar data. A need exists for a user-friendly, interactive software package for analysis of these polarimetric radar data sets. Previous software packages, such as JPL's Multiview, while providing some analysis capabilities for these data, did not allow interactive viewing and were tied to specific image display hardware with operating system dependencies. A prototype software system, the 'Radar Analysis and Visualization Environment' (RAVEN) under development at the Center for the Study of Earth from Space (CSES) at the University of Colorado, is designed to deal with data from the JPL AIRSAR instrument and other proposed polarimetric radar instruments. RAVEN is being developed using the Interactive Data Language (IDL). It takes advantage of high speed disk access and fast processors running under the UNIX operating system in an X-windows environment to allow for rapid, interactive visualization of AIRSAR data in both image and graphical ways. It provides a user-friendly interface through the use of menus, sliders, buttons, and display windows.

Kierein-Young, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Locomotor Adaptation Improves Balance Control, Multitasking Ability and Reduces the Metabolic Cost of Postural Instability

During exploration-class missions, sensorimotor disturbances may lead to disruption in the ability to ambulate and perform functional tasks during the initial introduction to a novel gravitational environment following a landing on a planetary surface. The overall goal of our current project is to develop a sensorimotor adaptability training program to facilitate rapid adaptation to these environments. We have developed a unique training system comprised of a treadmill placed on a motion-base facing a virtual visual scene. It provides an unstable walking surface combined with incongruent visual flow designed to enhance sensorimotor adaptability. Greater metabolic cost incurred during balance instability means more physical work is required during adaptation to new environments possibly affecting crewmembers? ability to perform mission critical tasks during early surface operations on planetary expeditions. The goal of this study was to characterize adaptation to a discordant sensory challenge across a number of performance modalities including locomotor stability, multi-tasking ability and metabolic cost. METHODS: Subjects (n=15) walked (4.0 km/h) on a treadmill for an 8 -minute baseline walking period followed by 20-minutes of walking (4.0 km/h) with support surface motion (0.3 Hz, sinusoidal lateral motion, peak amplitude 25.4 cm) provided by the treadmill/motion-base system. Stride frequency and auditory reaction time were collected as measures of locomotor stability and multi-tasking ability, respectively. Metabolic data (VO2) were collected via a portable metabolic gas analysis system. RESULTS: At the onset of lateral support surface motion, subj ects walking on our treadmill showed an increase in stride frequency and auditory reaction time indicating initial balance and multi-tasking disturbances. During the 20-minute adaptation period, balance control and multi-tasking performance improved. Similarly, throughout the 20-minute adaptation period, VO2 gradually decreased following an initial increase after the onset of support surface motion. DISCUSSION: Resu lts confirmed that walking in discordant conditions not only compromises locomotor stability and the ability to multi-task, but comes at a quantifiable metabolic cost. Importantly, like locomotor stability and multi-tasking ability, metabolic expenditure while walking in discordant sensory conditions improved during adaptation. This confirms that sensorimotor adaptability training can benefit multiple performance parameters central to the successful completion of critical mission tasks.

Bloomberg, J. J.↗
DOE OSTI2020

A comprehensive conductivity model for drift and micro-tearing modes

The parallel electrical conductivity is a crucial parameter in the study of the linear stability of drift-modes like the micro-tearing mode (MTM). The conductivity enters by closing the electromagnetic tearing layer equations. Recent progress in the understanding of the pedestal suggests that the MTM could play an important role in its structure and evolution. For this reason, we revisit and improve previous model conductivities. This parameter is generally derived from the linearized drift kinetic equation. In the past literature, it has been computed using either simplified collision operators or neglecting the spatial dependence away from the rational surface. Here, a fully consistent expression for the conductivity that would accurately model the pedestal has not been available. By applying a novel variational procedure and with the full Fokker Plank collision operator, including electron–electron collisions, we compute a closed expression for the parallel electrical conductivity in the form of a rational function.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2007

Analysis of The Surface Radiative Budget Using ATLAS Data for San Juan, Puerto Rico

The additional beating of the air over the city is the result of the replacement of naturally vegetated surfaces with those composed of asphalt, concrete, rooftops and other man-made materials. The temperatures of these artificial surfaces can be 20 to 40 C higher than vegetated surfaces. This produces a dome of elevated air temperatures 5 to 8 C greater over the city, compared to the air temperatures over adjacent rural areas. Urban landscapes are a complex mixture of vegetated and nonvegetated surfaces. It is difficult to take enough temperature measurements over a large city area to characterize the complexity of urban radiant surface temperature variability. The NASA Airborne Thermal and Land Applications Sensor (ATLAS) operates in the visual and IR bands was used in February 2004 to collect data from San Juan, Puerto Rico with the main objective of investigating the Urban Heat Island (UHI) in tropical cities.

Luvall, Jeffrey C.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Savannah River Site H-Canyon Advancing Technologies for Remote Inspections - 20345

In 2017, the DOE Environmental Management Office of Technology Development (DOE-EM TD) sponsored the H-Canyon Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) to demonstrate to DOE facilities the value of using new commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and near-ready technologies to solve difficult problems and enhance worker safety. The DOE Savannah River Site (SRS) H-Canyon Air Exhaust Tunnel (HCAEX) inspection task was identified as representative of the hazardous, human denied environments which could benefit from advanced technologies. The HCAEX underground concrete tunnel is visually inspected biannually using a camera mounted on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designed and built by SRNL. While tunnel images have provided valuable visual information, it is desirable to have a higher order of understanding of the environment to support a more thorough structural integrity (SI) analysis and for long term planning purposes. As part of the ATD, the Concrete Integrated Product Team (CIPT) was formed to identify and evaluate available sensors and methods mature enough to remotely obtain tunnel concrete characterization data of high value and with a high probability of success. The team included SMEs and H-Canyon stakeholders in the field of concrete, nondestructive examination (NDE), structural integrity, sensors and remote systems from SRNL, SRNS, LANL, DOE-SR and the Army Corps of Engineering. The CIPT completed an in-depth identification of customer concrete inspection needs and potential technology solutions. Sensors and methods were evaluated on performance, data usefulness, cost and the feasibility of a successful deployment given the unique tunnel access challenges and environment. Two technologies were identified as promising by the CIPT for near term demonstration and evaluation: Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) 3-dimensional (3D) mapping and remote robotic deployment of NDE instrumentation. Laser spectroscopy to characterize tunnel surface chemical changes was also of interest, but presently cost prohibitive. This paper will include a discussion of the two efforts underway to evaluate and implement the CIPT recommendations. First, the status of the November 2019 deployment of Lidar at a single location into the tunnel is presented. This initial deployment provided the team a learning curve and lessons learned on the challenges of tunnel deployment to include remote operation and data collection, stabilization of the sensor in high air flow (∼30 mph), ability to achieve a tolerance accuracy of 0.25-inches, and the probability to identify change in tunnel dimensions over time. Secondly, a discussion on the development of the Robotic Arm Concrete Inspection Test Bed capable of deploying NDE instruments to examine custom concrete forms will be presented. Concrete forms simulating the rough concrete surfaces, strength, composition and potential structural defects that can be found at our DOE EM facilities have been designed and built for the test bed. Two state-of-the art concrete NDE instruments have been identified as having potential to work on rough concrete walls, they are being tested and characterized as to their ability to provide desired structural integrity data to include wall thickness and defect identification on the developed test beams. Lastly, lessons learned, and the path forward will be presented. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Modularization of Ceramic Hollow Fiber Membrane Technology for Air Separation

This proposed project is aimed at studying high performance and economically competitive ceramic membrane technology for air separation and high-purity oxygen production using hollow fiber ceramic membrane stack and module technology. The design of the single permeate membrane is a hollow fiber substrate-supported thin tri-layer structure. Radially well-aligned micro-channels are embedded in the thick substrate and open at the inner surface of the substrate, enabling facile air/gas diffusion. The tri-layer structure of thin dense membrane layer (~ 10 µm) sandwiched by porous surface layer on either side is then built on the substrate using advanced fabrication process. The tri-layer structure design allows different materials to be used in different layers, where the materials of surface layers have high surface exchange coefficients while the material of dense layer has high bulk diffusivity. Such a synergetic combination leads to high permeation performance. The focus of the proposed project will be on membrane stack/module development using the developed single hollow fiber membranes, including: 1) fabrication and characterization of novel single hollow fiber membranes; 2) membrane stack design and assembly using fabricated single membranes; 3) stack modeling and analysis to guide membrane stack designs; 4) permeation performance testing and characterization of membrane stacks. The hollow fiber feature and simple sealing requirement enable very compact design of membrane stacks, which have excellent flexibility for further modularizations at different scales. The operations of such membrane stack and module may employ the exhaust heat from other components of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle and oxy-combustion systems. Therefore, modularization of such an air separation membrane technology can be incorporated into the DOE’s REMS (radically engineered modular systems)-gasification skid and support the oxidant feed of an oxygen-blown REMS gasifier scaled to different ranges.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
NASA NTRS1976

Skylab results - Review and outlook

In the history of space flight, Project Skylab marks the transition from short manned flights to long-time manned orbital operations, from single-purpose spacecraft to multipurpose space stations, and from a time of space exploration to a time of space utilization. In the present paper, some of the Skylab scientific programs in the areas of solar physics, stellar astronomy, space physics, earth observations, life sciences, and materials sciences are reviewed. Visible, UV, and X-ray observations showed the sun's surface to be far more active and more differentiated than was earlier assumed. The unexpected apparition of the comet Kohoutek provided valuable information on the composition of cometary nuclei and tails. Pictures taken with earth-looking cameras have provided insight into specific data analysis and assessment problems. Results of the materials science program offer much promise for future work.

Stuhlinger, E.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Radionuclide measurements by accelerator mass spectrometry at Arizona

Over the past years, Tandem Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (TAMS) has become established as an important method for radionuclide analysis. In the Arizona system the accelerator is operated at a thermal voltage of 1.8MV for C-14 analysis, and 1.6 to 2MV for Be-10. Samples are inserted into a cesium sputter ion source in solid form. Negative ions sputtered from the target are accelerated to about 25kV, and the injection magnet selects ions of a particular mass. Ions of the 3+ charge state, having an energy of about 9MeV are selected by an electrostatic deflector, surviving ions pass through two magnets, where only ions of the desired mass-energy product are selected. The final detector is a combination ionization chamber to measure energy loss (and hence, Z), and a silicon surface-barrier detector which measures residual energy. After counting the trace iosotope for a fixed time, the injected ions are switched to the major isotope used for normalization. These ions are deflected into a Faraday cup after the first high-energy magnet. Repeated measurements of the isotope ratio of both sample and standards results in a measurement of the concentration of the radionuclide. Recent improvements in sample preparation for C-14 make preparation of high-beam current graphite targets directly from CO2 feasible. Except for some measurements of standards and backgrounds for Be-10 measurements to date have been on C-14. Although most results have been in archaeology and quaternary geology, studies have been expanded to include cosmogenic C-14 in meteorites. The data obtained so far tend to confirm the antiquity of Antarctic meteorites from the Allan Hills site. Data on three samples of Yamato meteorites gave terrestrial ages of between about 3 and 22 thousand years.

Jull, A. J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Summary of activities

Four space projects' activities are summarized. Design work on the Mars Penetrator Project, in cooperation with the NASA Ames Research Center, is being continued. Efforts are focused on the drilling mechanism which must penetrate the martian subsurface soil to collect and retrieve an uncontaminated sample. The new design consists of a rotary-percussive drill mechanism. This mechanism is optimum for dry drilling, necessary to avoid contamination of the soil sample, in many different soil types. The need for a small, relatively inexpensive device to study the chemical structure of this martian soil was also established. The egg design was chosen for its low cost compared to other systems and potential for a large number of eggs to be deployed on the martian surface. The design process included analysis of the dynamics of reentry, dissipation of heat during reentry, impact with the surface, access to undisturbed soil samples, and ability to gather samples from the soil at three depths. The egg consists of the reentry systems, soil probe lifting system, soil probe package, gas chromatograph, transmitter, and battery power supply. The egg must function only once, but is designed to withstand one martian year. The Mars Mole is designed as a rover-based device which penetrates the martian soil to a depth of up to 10 m, obtains a sample of soil, and returns it to the surface for analysis. The mole was designed to meet the following specifications: (1) weight less than 10 kg; (2) size less than 20 x 20 x 30 cm; (3) power less than 100 W; (4) ability to obtain a sample of at least 5 cc; (5) ability to penetrate fine, loose sand; and (6) need to obtain at least one sample. The space station umbilical connector project is a device which provides the translational motion of the connectors on the Space Station Freedom to allow engagement for power and data transfer. The design is capable of delivering a 20 lb force within the necessary tolerances and will operate reliably in the space environment.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2008

Simulation of the Impact of New Air-Based Ocean Surface Wind Measurements on H*Wind Analyses

The H'Wind analysis, a product of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, brings together wind measurements from a variety of observation platforms into an objective analysis of the distribution of wind speeds in a tropical cyclone. This product is designed to improve understanding of the extent and strength of the wind field, and to improve the assessment of hurricane intensity. See http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data sub/wind.html. The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRad) is a new airborne microwave remote sensor for hurricane observations that is currently under development by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NOAA Hurricane Research Division, the University of Central Florida and the University of Michigan. HIRad is being designed to enhance the real-time airborne ocean surface winds observation capabilities of NOAA and USAF Weather Squadron hurricane hunter aircraft using the operational airborne Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). Unlike SFMR, which measures wind speed and rain rate along the ground track directly beneath the aircraft, HIRad will provide images of the surface wind and rain field over a wide swath (approx. 3 x the aircraft altitude). The instrument is described in a paper presented to the Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology Symposium. The present paper describes a set of Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) in which measurements from the new instrument as well as those from existing instruments (air, surface, and space-based) are simulated from the output of a numerical model from the University of Miami and those results are used to construct H*Wind analyses. Evaluations will be presented on the impact of the HIRad instrument on H'Wind analyses, both in terms of adding it to the full suite of current measurements, as well as using it to replace instrument(s) that may not be functioning at the future tame the HIRad instrument is implemented.

Miller, Timothy↗
NASA NTRS2008

Long-Term Effects of Soldering By-Products on Nickel-Coated Copper Wire

An analysis of thirty-year-old, down graded flight cables was conducted to determine the makeup of a green material on the surface of the shielded wire near soldered areas and to ascertain if the green material had corroded the nickel-coated copper wire. Two likely candidates were possible due to the handling and environments to which these cables were exposed. The flux used to solder the cables is known to contain abietic acid, a carboxylic acid found in many pine rosins used for the soldering process. The resulting material copper abietate is green in color and is formed during the application of heat during soldering operations. Copper (II) chloride, which is also green in color is known to contaminate flight parts and is corrosive. Data is presented that shows the material is copper abietate, not copper (II) chloride, and more importantly that the abietate does not aggressively attack nickel-plated copper wire.

Rolin, T. D.↗