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At least 1,747 records · Page 97
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1977

Navigation capability for an ion drive rendezvous with Halley's Comet

An analysis has been conducted in connection with plans for a study of Halley's Comet during its 1986 apparition. The use of low-thrust vehicles, utilizing an ion drive system, is being considered for a comet rendezvous mission. A preliminary trajectory for the Halley rendezvous mission calls for launch on June 20, 1982, followed by rendezvous on December 21, 1985. The navigation analysis described focuses on the terminal approach to Halley, the 60-day period preceding rendezvous. Navigation analysis assumptions are examined, taking into account navigation error sources, radio tracking, onboard optical data, earth-based comet observations, and orbit determination and guidance strategies. The preliminary mission design considers a rendezvous at approximately 56,000 km from the comet nucleus (6,000 km outside the dust envelope). Navigation performance is measured in terms of comet-relative position and velocity errors at encounter. Variations to the baseline navigation study provide illustrations concerning the close link between delivery accuracy and stochastic thrust errors.

Thornton, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Gigahertz analog modulation and differential delay of GaAlAs lasers - Temperature and current behavior

Gigahertz analog modulation characteristics of broad-area commercially available GaAlAs lasers have been investigated as a function of temperature and current in the vicinity of the upper frequency limit, where the resonance phenomena occur. The optimum temperature for small-signal amplitude modulation was found to be around -15 C for our particular broad-stripe geometry double-heterostructure laser. The Q was found to increase by a factor of 2 and the bandwidth by about 2%; the external quantum efficiency was maximized in this range. The optimum dc current bias was about 2% above the threshold current. Differential delays have also been measured down to a few picosecond accuracy by a unique phase-angle measurement method using a vector voltmeter. Some of the temperature effects observed may be related to mode changes and multimode and superradiance behavior.

Eng, S. T.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Airframe-propulsion system aerodynamic interference predictions at high transonic Mach numbers including off-design engine airflow effects

The transonic speed regime for airplanes at conditions where inlet spillage takes place is discussed. A wind tunnel test program to evaluate aerodynamic performance penalties associated with propulsion system installation and operation at subsonic through low supersonic speeds was conducted. The accuracy of analytic methods for predicting transonic engine airframe interference effects was assessed. Study variables included Mach number, angle of attack, relative nacelle location, and nacelle mass flow ratio. Results include test theory comparisons of forces as well as induced pressure fields. Prediction capability of induced shock wave strength and locations is assessed. It was found that large interference forces due to engine location and flow spillage occur at transonic speeds, that theory explains these effects; and that theory can predict quantitatively these effects.

Kulfan, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Relations for the thermodynamic and transport properties in the testing environment of the Langley hypersonic CF4 tunnel

Thermodynamic and transport properties of gaseous CF4 that can be used in flow field computer codes and theoretical analyses for comparison of results with experimental data from the Langley Hypersonic CF4 Tunnel are presented. The thermodynamic relations which are based on thermally perfect but calorifically imperfect gas are adequate for the testing environment of the CF4 tunnel and are simpler to use than the imperfect gas relations required to define the complete expansion from the tunnel reservoir. Relations for the transport properties are based on the kinetic theory of gases in which published experimental data are used in the derivation of the relations. Extensive experimental data were located for viscosity and the derived relation should provide values for viscosity with errors of less than 1 percent. The experimental data for thermal conductivity were limited with significant disagreement between the various sources. The derived relation will probably provide values for the thermal conductivity with errors of no more than 5 percent which is within the accuracy of the experimental data.

Sutton, K.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Advanced ion thruster and electrochemical launcher research

The theoretical model of orificed hollow cathode operation predicted experimentally observed cathode performance with reasonable accuracy. The deflection and divergence characteristics of ion beamlets emanating from a two grid optics system as a function of the relative offset of screen and accel grids hole axes were described. Ion currents associated with discharge chamber operation were controlled to improve ion thruster performance markedly. Limitations imposed by basic physical laws on reductions in screen grid hole size and grid spacing for ion optics systems were described. The influence of stray magnetic fields in the vicinity of a neutralizer on the performance of that neutralizer was demonstrated. The ion current density extracted from a thruster was enhanced by injecting electrons into the region between its ion accelerating grids. Theoretical analysis of the electrothermal ramjet concept of launching space bound payloads at high acceleration levels is described. The operation of this system is broken down into two phases. In the light gas gun phase the payload is accelerated to the velocity at which the ramjet phase can commence. Preliminary models of operation are examined and shown to yield overall energy efficiences for a typical Earth escape launch of 60 to 70%. When shock losses are incorporated these efficiencies are still observed to remain at the relatively high values of 40 to 50%.

Wilbur, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Noise in remote-sensing systems - The effect on classification error

Several types of noise in remote-sensing systems are treated. The purpose is to provide enhanced understanding of the relationship of noise sources to both analysis results and sensor design. The context of optical sensors and spectral pattern recognition analysis methods is used to enable tractability for quantitative results. First, the concept of multispectral classification is reviewed. Next, stochastic models are discussed for both signals and noise, including thermal, shot and quantization noise along with atmospheric effects. A model enabling the study of the combined effect of these sources is presented, and a system performance index is defined. Theoretical results showing the interrelated effects of the noise sources on system performance are given. Results of simulations using the system model are presented for several values of system parameters, using some noise parameters of the Thematic Mapper scanner as an illustration. Results show the relative importance of each of the noise sources on system performance, including how sensor noise interacts with atmospheric effects to degrade accuracy.

Landgrebe, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Rivited panel surface measurement using photogrammetry

Two riveted antenna panels on rings number 3 and 9 were removed from the 34m antenna at DSS-15, fixed in the leveled position and the surface was photographed indoors. The results from this pilot photogrammetric demonstration and diagnostics of panel surface contours, are presented. The photogrammetric network for each panel incorporated eight photographs, two from each of four camera stations and observed over 200 targets. The accuracy (1 sigma) of the XYZ coordinates for the error ellipsoids was + or - 0.013 mm (0.0005 inch). This level of precision relative to the object size corresponds roughly to 1 part in 250,000 which is superior to conventional dial sweep-arm template techniques by at least a factor of 4.

Merrick, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Turbulent compressible convection in a deep atmosphere. III - Tests on the validity and limitation of the numerical approach

The effects of various approximations on the results of three-dimensional computation of turbulent compressible convection are examined and related to the phenomenon of bubble breaking in stellar convection. The problem of viscosity and the numerical issue of efficiency versus accuracy in such computations are discussed, and a model is formulated and tested with regard to turbulent viscosity and accuracy. Results on the convergence to a statistically stationary state, the effects of time accuracy on the statistics, the effects of the adjustable constant parameter c(mu), and the effects of aspect ratio, horizontal grid size, and vertical grid distribution are discussed. A preliminary look at the three-dimensional flow structure is given.

Chan, K. L.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The impact of spectral emissivity on the measurement of land surface temperature from a satellite

The effect of emissivity on the measurement of land surface (LS) temperature from satellite radiances using the split-window method is investigated. Formulas are derived to relate the LS temperatures to two brightness temperatures measured from space in the AVHRR 4 and AVHRR 5 channels, and their accuracies are discussed. Results indicate that to determine LS temperatures from a satellite, the spectral emissivity must be known to an accuracy on the order of 0.005 for the average and 0.0007 for the difference in order to obtain an error of the order of 0.5 K.

Becker, F.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Crustal Dynamics Project

The Crustal Dynamics Project has been developing, deploying, and operating very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) systems and satellite laser ranging (SLR) systems for highly accurate geodetic measurements of global plate motion, plate stability, regional crustal deformation, and earth rotation/polar motion. Over the past 10 years, the measurement accuracies of these systems have been improved by a factor of 10 to the cm level. Plans are to continue these developments to reach mm level accuracies. The present deployment of the VLBI systems is primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. This network has produced measurements of the relative plate motion between the North American, Eurasian, and Pacific plates; the stability of the same plates; and the regional deformation at the North American/Pacific plate boundary in California and Alaska.

Coates, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Results of the 1988 NASA/JPL airborne SAR calibration campaign

During the spring of 1988, the NASA/JPL multifrequency, multipolarization SAR (synthetic aperture radar) flew in series of calibration experiments over the Goldstone dry lake bed. An array of calibration devices was deployed, including dihedral and trihedral corner reflectors, polarimetric active radar calibrators, passive receivers, and CW (continuous wave) tone generators. The aim of the campaign was to calibrate both amplitude and phase of the resulting SAR images, over long and short time scales. The results of the analysis of the calibration data collected in the spring of 1988 are presented. Trihedral corner reflector signatures and certain image background measures are used to externally calibrate relative amplitude and phase between polarizations at a given frequency, and to calibrate across frequencies. Assessments are made of the calibration accuracy as a function of image frame position for each frequency, and the stability of the radar calibration over long and short time-scales.

Freeman, A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

High order filtering methods for approximating hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

The essentially nonoscillatory (ENO) schemes, while potentially useful in the computation of discontinuous solutions of hyperbolic conservation-law systems, are computationally costly relative to simple central-difference methods. A filtering technique is presented which employs central differencing of arbitrarily high-order accuracy except where a local test detects the presence of spurious oscillations and calls upon the full ENO apparatus to remove them. A factor-of-three speedup is thus obtained over the full-ENO method for a wide range of problems, with high-order accuracy in regions of smooth flow.

Lafon, F.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The General Circulation of the Venus Atmosphere: An Assessment

The overall spin or "superrotation" of the Venus atmosphere is a striking phenomenon. In the 15 years since the NASA Pioneer Venus mission, a first-order understanding has been reached of the dynamics of the atmospheric region near and just above the Venus cloud tops. Tidal motions induced by solar heating produce a traveling disturbance whose vertical momentum transports are balanced by mean flow advection. The balance explains the strength of the mean flow above the clouds, and partially explains the strength of the mean flow at the cloud level where the strongest superrotation of the atmosphere occurs. But the fundamental cause of the global superrotation remains a mystery in spite of data from Earth-based observatories, from Pioneer Venus, from several Russian probes, from a Russian/French balloon experiment, and from the NASA Galileo flyby. The key missing knowledge is of momentum transfer processing the deep atmosphere, between the surface and the cloud deck. Neither the forcing nor the drag and dissipation mechanisms are known. The existing data are reviewed here and theoretical suggestions are listed. It is concluded that further measurements, in conjunction with numerical modeling, will be required to resolve this puzzling and challenging question. New data must improve by an order of magnitude on the accuracies achieved by the Pioneer Venus probes. Velocities in the deep atmosphere must be measured to better than 0.1 m/s and relative temperatures to beter than 0.1 K near the surface.

Gierasch, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

The THOR Project-Reducing the Impact of Thunderstorms on Aviation and the General Public Through a Multi-Agency Effect

Thunderstorms are high impact weather phenomena. They also pose an extremely challenging forecast problem. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), and the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), have decided to pool technology and scientific expertise into an unprecedented effort to better observe, diagnose, and forecast thunderstorms. This paper describes plans for an operational field test called the THunderstorm Operational Research (THOR) Project beginning in 2002, the primary goals of which are to: 1) Reduce the number of Thunderstorm-related Air Traffic Delays with in the National Airspace System (NAS) and, 2) Improve severe thunderstorm, tornado and airport thunderstorm warning accuracy and lead time. Aviation field operations will be focused on the prime air traffic bottleneck in the NAS, the airspace bounded roughly by Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C., sometimes called the Northeast Corridor. A variety of new automated thunderstorm forecasting applications will be tested here that, when implemented into FAA-NWS operations, will allow for better tactical decision making and NAS management during thunderstorm days. Severe thunderstorm operations will be centered on Northern Alabama. NWS meteorologists from the forecast office in Birmingham will test the utility of experimental lightning, radar, and profiler data from a mesoscale observing network being established by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In addition, new tornado detection and thunderstorm nowcasting algorithms will be examined for their potential for improving warning accuracy. The Alabama THOR site will also serve as a test bed for new gridded, digital thunderstorm and flash flood warning products.

Smith, Stephan B.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Analysis of the Performance Characteristics of the Five-Channel Microtops II Sun Photometer for Measuring Aerosol Optical Thickness and Precipitable Water Vapor

Five Microtops II sun photometers were studied in detail at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to determine their performance in measuring aerosol optical thickness (AOT or Tau(sub alphalambda) and precipitable column water vapor (W). Each derives Tau(sub alphalambda) from measured signals at four wavelengths lambda (340, 440, 675, and 870 nm), and W from the 936 nm signal measurements. Accuracy of Tau(sub alphalambda) and W determination depends on the reliability of the relevant channel calibration coefficient (V(sub 0)). Relative calibration by transfer of parameters from a more accurate sun photometer (such as the Mauna-Loa-calibrated AERONET master sun photometer at GSFC) is more reliable than Langley calibration performed at GSFC. It was found that the factory-determined value of the instrument constant for the 936 nm filter (k= 0.7847) used in the Microtops' internal algorithm is unrealistic, causing large errors in V(sub 0(936)), Tau(sub alpha936), and W. Thus, when applied for transfer calibration at GSFC, whereas the random variation of V(aub 0) at 340 to 870 nm is quite small, with coefficients of variation (CV) in the range of 0 to 2.4%, at 936 nm the CV goes up to 19%. Also, the systematic temporal variation of V(sub 0) at 340 to 870 nm is very slow, while at 936 nm it is large and exhibits a very high dependence on W. The algorithm also computes Tau(sub alpha936) as 0.91Tau(sub alpha870), which is highly simplistic. Therefore, it is recommended to determine Tau(sub alpha936) by logarithmic extrapolation from Tau(sub alpha675) and Tau(sub alpha 870. From the operational standpoint of the Microtops, apart from errors that may result from unperceived cloud contamination, the main sources of error include inaccurate pointing to the Sun, neglecting to clean the front quartz window, and neglecting to calibrate correctly. If these three issues are adequately taken care of, the Microtops can be quite accurate and stable, with root mean square (rms) differences between corresponding retrievals from clean calibrated Microtops and the AERONET sun photometer being about +/-0.02 at 340 nm, decreasing down to about +/-0.01 at 870 nm.

Ichoku, Charles↗
NASA NTRS2000

Advanced imaging of the macrostructure and microstructure of bone

Noninvasive and/or nondestructive techniques are capable of providing more macro- or microstructural information about bone than standard bone densitometry. Although the latter provides important information about osteoporotic fracture risk, numerous studies indicate that bone strength is only partially explained by bone mineral density. Quantitative assessment of macro- and microstructural features may improve our ability to estimate bone strength. The methods available for quantitatively assessing macrostructure include (besides conventional radiographs) quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and volumetric quantitative computed tomography (vQCT). Methods for assessing microstructure of trabecular bone noninvasively and/or nondestructively include high-resolution computed tomography (hrCT), micro-computed tomography (muCT), high-resolution magnetic resonance (hrMR), and micromagnetic resonance (muMR). vQCT, hrCT and hrMR are generally applicable in vivo; muCT and muMR are principally applicable in vitro. Although considerable progress has been made in the noninvasive and/or nondestructive imaging of the macro- and microstructure of bone, considerable challenges and dilemmas remain. From a technical perspective, the balance between spatial resolution versus sampling size, or between signal-to-noise versus radiation dose or acquisition time, needs further consideration, as do the trade-offs between the complexity and expense of equipment and the availability and accessibility of the methods. The relative merits of in vitro imaging and its ultrahigh resolution but invasiveness versus those of in vivo imaging and its modest resolution but noninvasiveness also deserve careful attention. From a clinical perspective, the challenges for bone imaging include balancing the relative advantages of simple bone densitometry against the more complex architectural features of bone or, similarly, the deeper research requirements against the broader clinical needs. The considerable potential biological differences between the peripheral appendicular skeleton and the central axial skeleton have to be addressed further. Finally, the relative merits of these sophisticated imaging techniques have to be weighed with respect to their applications as diagnostic procedures requiring high accuracy or reliability on one hand and their monitoring applications requiring high precision or reproducibility on the other. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.

NASA Discipline Musculoskeletal↗
NASA NTRS1999

The value of assessing pulmonary venous flow velocity for predicting severity of mitral regurgitation: A quantitative assessment integrating left ventricular function

Although alteration in pulmonary venous flow has been reported to relate to mitral regurgitant severity, it is also known to vary with left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction. There are few data relating pulmonary venous flow to quantitative indexes of mitral regurgitation (MR). The object of this study was to assess quantitatively the accuracy of pulmonary venous flow for predicting MR severity by using transesophageal echocardiographic measurement in patients with variable LV dysfunction. This study consisted of 73 patients undergoing heart surgery with mild to severe MR. Regurgitant orifice area (ROA), regurgitant stroke volume (RSV), and regurgitant fraction (RF) were obtained by quantitative transesophageal echocardiography and proximal isovelocity surface area. Both left and right upper pulmonary venous flow velocities were recorded and their patterns classified by the ratio of systolic to diastolic velocity: normal (>/=1), blunted (<1), and systolic reversal (<0). Twenty-three percent of patients had discordant patterns between the left and right veins. When the most abnormal patterns either in the left or right vein were used for analysis, the ratio of peak systolic to diastolic flow velocity was negatively correlated with ROA (r = -0.74, P <.001), RSV (r = -0.70, P <.001), and RF (r = -0.66, P <.001) calculated by the Doppler thermodilution method; values were r = -0.70, r = -0.67, and r = -0.57, respectively (all P <.001), for indexes calculated by the proximal isovelocity surface area method. The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the reversed pulmonary venous flow pattern for detecting a large ROA (>0.3 cm(2)) were 69%, 98%, and 97%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the normal pulmonary venous flow pattern for detecting a small ROA (<0.3 cm(2)) were 60%, 96%, and 94%, respectively. However, the blunted pattern had low sensitivity (22%), specificity (61%), and predictive values (30%) for detecting ROA of greater than 0.3 cm(2) with significant overlap with the reversed and normal patterns. Among patients with the blunted pattern, the correlation between the systolic to diastolic velocity ratio was worse in those with LV dysfunction (ejection fraction <50%, r = 0.23, P >.05) than in those with normal LV function (r = -0.57, P <.05). Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that the peak systolic to diastolic velocity ratio was independently correlated with RF (P <.001) and effective stroke volume (P <.01), with a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.71 (P <.001). In conclusion, reversed pulmonary venous flow in systole is a highly specific and reliable marker of moderately severe or severe MR with an ROA greater than 0.3 cm(2), whereas the normal pattern accurately predicts mild to moderate MR. Blunted pulmonary venous flow can be seen in all grades of MR with low predictive value for severity of MR, especially in the presence of LV dysfunction. The blunted pulmonary venous flow pattern must therefore be interpreted cautiously in clinical practice as a marker for severity of MR.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2003

Modified Polar-Format Software for Processing SAR Data

HMPF is a computer program that implements a modified polar-format algorithm for processing data from spaceborne synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) systems. Unlike prior polar-format processing algorithms, this algorithm is based on the assumption that the radar signal wavefronts are spherical rather than planar. The algorithm provides for resampling of SAR pulse data from slant range to radial distance from the center of a reference sphere that is nominally the local Earth surface. Then, invoking the projection-slice theorem, the resampled pulse data are Fourier-transformed over radial distance, arranged in the wavenumber domain according to the acquisition geometry, resampled to a Cartesian grid, and inverse-Fourier-transformed. The result of this process is the focused SAR image. HMPF, and perhaps other programs that implement variants of the algorithm, may give better accuracy than do prior algorithms for processing strip-map SAR data from high altitudes and may give better phase preservation relative to prior polar-format algorithms for processing spotlight-mode SAR data.

Chen, Curtis↗