Engineering topics
Ward, D.
Publications and source records attributed to Ward, D..
Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control Interface Standards Initiative : Progress to Date
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Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control Interface Standards Initiative : Overview
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Biomass Burning Airborne and Spaceborne Experiment in the Amazonas (BASE-A)
Results are presented on measurements of the trace gas and particulate matter emissions due to biomass burning during deforestation and grassland fires in South America, conducted as part of the Biomass Burning Airborne and Spaceborne Experiment in the Amazonas in September 1989. Field observations by an instrumented aircraft were used to estimate concentrations of O3, CO2, CO, CH4, and particulate matter. Fires were observed from satellite imagery, and the smoke optical thickness, particle size, and profiles of the extinction coefficient were measured from the aircraft and from the ground. Four smoke plumes were sampled, three vertical profiles were measured, and extensive ground measurements of smoke optical characteristics were carried out for different smoke types. The simultaneous measurements of the trace gases, smoke particles, and the distribution of fires were used to correlate biomass burning with the elevated levels of ozone.
Flow energizers. Task A
The effects of a propeller slipstream on the wing laminar boundary are being investigated. Hot-wire velocity sensor measurements have been performed in flight and in a wind tunnel. It is shown that the boundary layer cycles between a laminar state and a turbulent state at the propeller blade passage rate. The cyclic length of the turbulent state increases with decreasing laminar stability. Analyses of the time-varying velocity profiles show the turbulent state to lie in a transition region between fully laminar and fully turbulent. The observed cyclic boundary layer has characteristics similar to relaminarizing flow and laminar flow with external turbulence.
A liquid-helium-cooled grating spectrometer for far infrared astronomical observations
A liquid-helium-cooled grating spectrometer has been developed for low-resolution far-infrared spectrometric measurements of astronomical sources conducted by the 30-cm NASA Lear Jet telescope. Simple MOSFET coupled transimpedance preamplifiers were adopted for the spectrometer design. The infrared spectrometer has resolving powers from 10 to 150 over the wavelength range from 45 to 115 microns.
Search for a Venus halo effect during 1970.
Photometric observations of Venus during 1970 inferior conjunction, in contrast to observations made during the 1969 inferior conjunction, show no evidence of a Venus halo effect at 158 phase angle. The upper limit to brightening is about 0.005 mag but can still be reconciled with earlier results. Because of the importance of the question of H2O-ice in the Venus clouds, further observations are encouraged to remove the marginality of most observations to date.