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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11

Utility of MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth for Estimating PM2.5 Exposure in Environmental Public Health Surveillance

As part of the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (EPHTN) the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is leading a project called Health and Environment Linked for Information Exchange (HELIX-Atlanta). The goal of developing the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network is to improve the health of communities. Currently, few systems exist at the state or national level to concurrently track many of the exposures and health effects that might be associated with environmental hazards. An additional challenge is estimating exposure to environmental hazards such as particulate matter whose aerodynamic diameter is less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers (PM(2.5)) HELIX-Atlanta's goal is to examine the feasibility of building an integrated electronic health and environmental data network in five counties of Metropolitan Atlanta, GA (Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties). Under HELIX-Atlanta, pilot projects are being conducted to develop methods to characterize exposure; link health and environmental data; analyze the relationship between health and environmental factors; and communicate findings. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA/MSFC) is collaborating with CDC to combine NASA earth science satellite observations related to air quality and environmental monitoring data to model surface estimates of PM(2.5) concentrations that can be linked with clinic visits for asthma. From 1999-2000 there were over 9,400 hospitalizations per year in Georgia with asthma as the primary diagnosis. The majority of these hospitalizations occurred in medical facilities in the five most populous Metro-Atlanta counties. Hospital charges resulting from asthma in Georgia are approximately $59 million dollars annually. There is evidence in the research literature that asthmatic persons are at increased risk of developing asthma exacerbations with exposure to environmental factors, including PM(2.5). Thus, HELIX-Atlanta is focusing on methods for characterizing population exposure to PM(2.5) for the Atlanta metropolitan area that could be used in on-going surveillance. While use of the Air Quality System, (AQS) PM(2.5) data alone could meet HELIX Atlanta, specifications, there are only five AQS sites in the Atlanta area, thus the spatial coverage is not ideal. Also, the AQS ground observations are made at time intervals ranging from one hour to six days leaving some temporal gaps. NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data have the potential for estimating daily ground level PM(2.5) at 10 km resolution over the metropolitan Atlanta area supplementing the AQS ground observations and filling their spatial and temporal gaps.

Al-Hamdan, Mohammad↗

Opening Historical Airborne Data to Present Day Researchers

For more than 50 years, NASA has flown airborne sensors to carry out research, validate satellite sensors, and test new instrument capabilities. Data collected prior to 2000 are typically analog and difficult to locate and use. The Airborne Data Management Group (ADMG) facilitates rescue of these valuable data to ensure easier discovery, access, and use. But opening historical data comes at a cost of both time and money. Careful decisions are required in assessing the return on investment. - Is there interest in the science community? - Are there government data requirements? - What is the temporal / spatial value of the data? - Can data be transformed to a digital format? - What is cost of transformation? - What time period is needed for rescue? Converting the data to today’s digital storage standards increases value and provides data access. The addition of metadata makes the data easier to search for.

Deborah Smith↗

Test results of six-month test of two water electrolysis systems

The two water electrolysis systems used in the NASA space station simulation 90-day manned test of a regenerative life support system were refurbished as required and subjected to 26-weeks of testing. The two electrolysis units are both promising systems for oxygen and hydrogen generation and both needed extensive long-term testing to evaluate the performance of the respective cell design and provide guidance for further development. Testing was conducted to evaluate performance in terms of current, pressure, variable oxygen demands, and orbital simulation. An automatic monitoring system was used to record, monitor and printout performance data at one minute, ten minute or one-hour intervals. Performance data is presented for each day of system operation for each module used during the day. Failures are analyzed, remedial action taken to eliminate problems is discussed and recommendations for redesign for future space applications are stated.

Mills, E. S.↗

Tribology in the 80's. Volume 2: Sessions 5 - 8

This 4-day international conference, held at NASA Lewis Research Center on April 18-21, 1983, was the result of an effort by the Structures and Mechanical Technologies Division at Lewis. Thirty-six invited presentations were made relative to the advancement of various disciplines and subdisciplines in the field of tribology (lubrication). These included papers on the status of understanding on each of the eight session topics, as well as the current state-of-knowledge and directions to be taken for the remainder of the decade. A wide range of subjects was covered that extended from fundamental research with tribological materials of all kinds and their surface effects up to the final technology applications in bearings, gears, and seals. The papers and the ensuing invited and spontaneous discussions on them by the participants are reported herein.

Tribology↗

Jet stream velocity errors in general circulation models

The longitude and time dependence of excessive wind speed errors above subtropical jets in current GCM forecasts is studied for 14 five-day winter forecasts using the NASA Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres fourth-order GCM. Several distinct phenomena, which may be divided into four categories, are found to contribute to the excess winds. These categories are: (1) error growth above the jet near the Himalayas; (2) error growth above the jet initiated elsewhere followed by advection; (3) tropical moisture bursts appearing in equatorial regions and migrating northeastward to merge with and distort the jet; and (4) undulatory growth of waves in the meridional component of the jet stream velocity. The results of additional sensitivity studies of the Himalayan region error are also reported.

Tenenbaum, J.↗

Status of sonic boom methodology and understanding

In January 1988, approximately 60 representatives of industry, academia, government, and the military gathered at NASA-Langley for a 2 day workshop on the state-of-the-art of sonic boom physics, methodology, and understanding. The purpose of the workshop was to assess the sonic boom area, to determine areas where additional sonic boom research is needed, and to establish some strategies and priorities in this sonic boom research. Attendees included many internationally recognized sonic boom experts who had been very active in the Supersonic Transport (SST) and Supersonic Cruise Aircraft Research Programs of the 60's and 70's. Summaries of the assessed state-of-the-art and the research needs in theory, minimization, atmospheric effects during propagation, and human response are given.

Darden, Christine M.↗

The spatial variations of lightning during small Florida thunderstorms

Networks of field mills (FM's) and lightning direction finders (LDF's) were used to locate lightning over the NASA KSC on three storm days. Over 90 percent of all cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes that were detected by the LDF's in the study area were also detected by the LDF's. About 17 percent of the FM CG events could be fitted to either a monopole or a dipole charge model. These projected FM charge locations are compared to LDF locations, i.e., the ground strike points. It was found that 95 percent of the LDF points are within 12 km of the FM charge, 75 percent are within 8 km, and 50 percent are within 4 km. For a storm on 22 Jul. 1988, there was a systematic 5.6 km shift between the FM charge centers and the LDF strike points that might have been caused by the meteorological structure of the storm.

Oram, Timothy D.↗

Lunar electric power systems utilizing the SP-100 reactor coupled to dynamic conversion systems

An integration study was performed by coupling an SP-100 reactor to either a Brayton or Stirling power conversion subsystem. The application was for a surface power system to supply power requirements to a lunar base. A power level of 550 kWe was selected based on the NASA Space Exploration Initiative 90-day study. Reliability studies were initially performed to determine optimum power-conversion redundancy. This study resulted in selecting three operating engines and one standby unit. Integratiaon-design studies indicated that either the Brayton or Stirling power conversion subsystem could be integrated with the SP-100 reactor. The Stirling system had an integration advantage because of smaller piping size and fewer components. The Stirling engine, however, is more complex and heavier than the Brayton rotating unit, which tends to offset the Stirling integration advantage. From a performance consideration, the Brayton had a 9-percent mass advantage and the Stirling a 50-percent radiator-area advantage.

Harty, Richard B.↗

Lunar electric power systems utilizing the SP-100 reactor coupled to dynamic conversion systems

An integration study was performed by Rocketdyne under contract to NASA-LeRC. The study was concerned with coupling an SP-0100 reactor to either a Brayton or Stirling power conversion system. The application was for a surface power system to supply power requirements to a lunar base. A power level of 550 kWe was selected based on the NASA Space Exploration Initiative 90-day study. Reliability studies were initially performed to determine optimum power conversion redundancy. This study resulted in selecting three operating engines and one stand-by unit. Integration design studies indicated that either the Brayton or Stirling power conversion systems could be integrated with the PS-100 reactor. The Stirling system had an integration advantage because of smaller piping size and fewer components. The Stirling engine, however, is more complex and heavier than the Brayton rotating unit, which tends to off-set the Stirling integration advantage. From a performance consideration, the Brayton had a 9 percent mass advantage, and the Stirling had a 50 percent radiator advantage.

Harty, Richard B.↗

Microbiological test results of the environmental control and life support systems vapors compression distillation subsystem recycle tank components following various pretreatment protocols

Microbiological samples were collected from the recycle tank of the vapor compression distillation (VCD) subsystem of the water recovery test at NASA MSFC following a 68-day run. The recycle tank collects rejected urine brine that was pretreated with a commercially available oxidant (Oxone) and sulfuric acid and pumps it back to the processing component of the VCD. Samples collected included a water sample and two swab samples, one from the particulate filter surface and a second from material floating on the surface of the water. No bacteria were recovered from the water sample. Both swab samples contained a spore-forming bacterium, Bacillus insolitus. A filamentous fungus was isolated from the floating material. Approximately 1 month after the pretreatment chemicals were changed to sodium hypochlorite and sulfuric acid, a swab of the particulate filter was again analyzed for microbial content. One fungus was isolated, and spore-forming bacteria were observed. These results indicate the inability of these pretreatments to inhibit surface attachment. The implications of the presence of these organisms are discussed.

Huff, Tim↗

ASTRO-1 to Explore Invisible Universe

This video explains the ASTRO 1 observatory and its ten day mission aboard SpaceLab on NASA's Space Shuttle, which Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) astronomers will use to study distant stars, supernovae, and black holes. The observatory contains ultraviolet and x ray telescopes that will capture images earth-bound observatories can't, due to interference from the earth's atmosphere. The video contains footage of the instrument being loaded on the shuttle, animations of anticipated images to be captured, and scenes of the SpaceLab Control Center at MSFC.

Source record↗

Packaging a Successful NASA Mission to Reach a Large Audience with a Small Budget. Earth's Dynamic Space: Solar-Terrestrial Physics and NASA's Polar Mission

To showcase the on-going and wide-ranging scope of the Polar science discoveries, the Polar science team has created a one-stop shop for a thorough introduction to geospace physics, in the form of a DVD with supporting website. The DVD, Earth's Dynamic Space: Solar-Terrestrial Physics & NASA's Polar Mission, can be viewed as an end-to-end product or split into individual segments and tailored to lesson plans. Capitalizing on the Polar mission and its amazing science return, the Polar team created an exciting multi-use DVD intended for audiences ranging from a traditional classroom and after school clubs, to museums and science centers. The DVD tackles subjects such as the aurora, the magnetosphere and space weather, whilst highlighting the science discoveries of the Polar mission. This platform introduces the learner to key team members as well as the science principles. Dramatic visualizations are used to illustrate the complex principles that describe Earth's dynamic space. In order to produce such a wide-ranging product on a shoe-string budget, the team poured through existing NASA resources to package them into the Polar story. Team members also created visualizations using Polar data to complement the NASA stock footage. Scientists donated their time to create and review scripts to make this a real team effort, working closely with the award winning audio-visual group at JHU/Applied Physics Laboratory. The team was excited to be invited to join NASA's Sun-Earth Day 2005 E/PO program and the DVD will be distributed as part of the supporting educational packages.

Fox, Nicola J.↗

Sonic Booms on Big Structures (SonicBOBS) Phase I Database; NASA Dryden Sensors

This DVD contains 13 channels of microphone and up to 22 channels of pressure transducer data collected in September, 2009 around several buildings located at Edwards Air Force Base. These data were recorded by NASA Dryden. Not included are data taken by NASA Langley and Gulfstream. Each day's data is in a separate folder and each pass is in a file beginning with "SonicBOBS_" (for microphone data) or "SonicBOBSBB_" (for BADS and BASS data) followed by the month, day, year as two digits each, followed by the hour, minute, sec after midnight GMT. The filename time given is for the END time of the raw recording file. In the case of the microphone data, this time may be several minutes after the sonic boom, and is according to the PC's uncalibrated clock. The Matlab data files have the actual time as provided by a GPS-based IRIG-B signal recorded concurrently with the data. Microphone data is given for 5 seconds prior to 20 seconds after the sonic boom. BADS and BASS data is given for the full recording, 6 seconds for the BADS and 10 seconds for the BASS. As an example of the naming convention, file "SonicBOBS_091209154618.mat" is from September 12, 2009 at 15:46:18 GMT. Note that data taken on September 12, 2009 prior to 01:00:00 GMT was of the Space Shuttle Discovery (a sonic boom of opportunity), which was on September 11, 2009 in local Pacific Daylight Time.

Haering, Edward A., Jr.↗

Utilizing Higher Resolution Land Surface Remote Sensing Data for Assessing Recent Trends over Asia Monsoon Region

The slide presentation discusses the integration of 1-kilometer spatial resolution land temperature data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), with 8-day temporal resolution, into the NASA Monsoon-Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) Data Center. The data will be available for analysis and visualization in the Giovanni data system. It discusses the NASA MAIRS Data Center, presents an introduction to the data access tools, and an introduction of Products available from the service, discusses the higher resolution Land Surface Temperature (LST) and presents preliminary results of LST Trends over China.

Shen, Suhung↗

MARIE Measurements and Model Predictions of Solar Modulation of Galactic Cosmic Rays at Mars

Recent data from the MARIE (Martian Radiation Environment Experiment) instrument on board the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft currently in Mars orbit are presented. It is shown that the short-term modulations of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) are well described by correlating the so lar modulation parameter, <1>, with Earth-based neutron monitor counts using a 85-day time lag and the NASA Models - HZETRN (High Z and Energy Transport) and QMSFRG (Quantum Multiple Scattering theory of nuclear Fragmentation). The dose rates observed by the MARIE instrument are within 10% of the model calculations.

Saganti, P. B.↗

Ohio's First Electrolysis-Based Hydrogen Fueling Station

Presentation to the earth day coalition describing efforts with NASA GRC and Cleveland RTA on Ohio's hydrogen fueling station and bus demonstration. Project background and goals, challenges and successes, and current status.

fueling station↗

Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment - How They Play Together

Since the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986, NASA has extensively used probabilistic analysis methods to assess, understand, and communicate the risk of space launch vehicles. Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), used in the nuclear industry, is one of the probabilistic analysis methods NASA utilizes to assess Loss of Mission (LOM) and Loss of Crew (LOC) risk for launch vehicles. PRA is a system scenario based risk assessment that uses a combination of fault trees, event trees, event sequence diagrams, and probability distributions to analyze the risk of a system, a process, or an activity. It is a process designed to answer three basic questions: 1) what can go wrong that would lead to loss or degraded performance (i.e., scenarios involving undesired consequences of interest), 2) how likely is it (probabilities), and 3) what is the severity of the degradation (consequences). Since the Challenger accident, PRA has been used in supporting decisions regarding safety upgrades for launch vehicles. Another area that was given a lot of emphasis at NASA after the Challenger accident is reliability engineering. Reliability engineering has been a critical design function at NASA since the early Apollo days. However, after the Challenger accident, quantitative reliability analysis and reliability predictions were given more scrutiny because of their importance in understanding failure mechanism and quantifying the probability of failure, which are key elements in resolving technical issues, performing design trades, and implementing design improvements. Although PRA and reliability are both probabilistic in nature and, in some cases, use the same tools, they are two different activities. Specifically, reliability engineering is a broad design discipline that deals with loss of function and helps understand failure mechanism and improve component and system design. PRA is a system scenario based risk assessment process intended to assess the risk scenarios that could lead to a major/top undesirable system event, and to identify those scenarios that are high-risk drivers. PRA output is critical to support risk informed decisions concerning system design. This paper describes the PRA process and the reliability engineering discipline in detail. It discusses their differences and similarities and how they work together as complementary analyses to support the design and risk assessment processes. Lessons learned, applications, and case studies in both areas are also discussed in the paper to demonstrate and explain these differences and similarities.

Safie, Fayssal↗

On-Orbit Performance of the TES Pulse Tube Cryocooler System and the Instrument - Six Years in Space

The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument pulse tube cryocoolers began operation 36 days after launch of the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura spacecraft on July 15, 2004. TES is designed with four infrared Mercury Cadmium Telluride focal plane arrays in two separate housings cooled by a pair of Northrup Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) single-stage pulse tube cryocoolers. The instrument also makes use of a two-stage passive cooler to cool the optical bench. The instrument is a high-resolution infrared imaging Fourier transform spectrometer with 3.3-15.4 micron spectral coverage. After four weeks of outgassing, the instrument optical bench and focal planes were cooled to their operating temperatures to begin science operations. During the early months of the mission, ice contamination of the cryogenic surfaces including the focal planes led to increased cryocooler loads and the need for periodic decontamination cycles. After a highly successful 5 years of continuous in-space operations, TES was granted a 2 year extension. This paper reports on the TES cryogenic system performance including the two-stage passive cooler. After a brief overview of the cryogenic design, the paper presents detailed data on the highly successful space operation of the pulse tube cryocoolers and instrument thermal design over the past six years since the original turn-on in 2004. The data shows the cryogenic contamination decreased substantially to where decontamination cycles are now performed every six months. The cooler stroke required for constant-temperature operation has not increased indicating near-constant cooler efficiency and the instrument's thermal design has also provided a nearly constant heat rejection sink. At this time TES continues to operate in space providing important Earth science data.

cryocoolercraft↗