Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “TV”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 217 records · Page 12

NASA Shuttle Lightning Research: Observations of Nocturnal Thunderstorms and Lightning Displays as Seen During Recent Space Shuttle Missions

A number of interesting lightning events have been observed using the low light level TV camera of the space shuttle during nighttime observations of thunderstorms near the limb of the Earth. Some of the vertical type lightning events that have been observed will be presented. Using TV cameras for observing lightning near the Earth's limb allows one to determine the location of the lightning and other characteristics by using the star field data and the shuttle's orbital position to reconstruct the geometry of the scene being viewed by the shuttle's TV cameras which are located in the payload bay of the shuttle.

Vaughan, Otha H., Jr.↗

Television Transmission Technology

The VKP-7990 Multistage Depressed Collector (MDC) Klystron is a result of cooperative development by Varian Associates, Inc., the National Association of Broadcasters, Lewis Research Center, the Public Broadcasting System and TV transmitter manufacturers. The effort was initiated to make power amplifying devices with efficiencies comparable to VHF available to UHF operators. The klystron is a vacuum tube used to generate and amplify ultrahigh frequencies but at low efficiencies because most of the energy is dissipated as waste heat. Lewis had earlier developed the MDC to enhance the efficiency of communications satellite transmissions. Varian Microwave Power Tube Products, which has since become Communications and Power Industries, and Lewis combined the MDC and the klystron, resulting in a product which increases efficiency by recovering some of the residual energy that normally would be lost as heat. The MDC klystron cuts the electric power consumption of UHF-TV transmitters in half; there are 90 units in operation in 36 UHF-TV stations.

Source record↗

STS-92 Meal - Suit up - Depart O&C - Launch Discovery On Orbit - Landing - Crew Egress

The video begins with the introduction of the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-92, at their customary pre-flight meal. The crew consists of Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pamela Melroy, and Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, William McArthur, Peter "Jeff" Wisoff, Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Koichi Wakata. The introduction and suit-up of the astronauts, and their departure in the Astrovan are shown at a quick pace. The video shows in detail the seating of the crew and each astronaut's final preparations in the White Room prior to boarding. Views of Discovery's night launch include: SLF Convoy, Beach Tracker, VAB, Pad Perimeter, Tower-1, UCS-15, Press Site, UCS-23, OTV-61, OTV-70, OTV-71, and the In-Cabin Ascent Camera. While in orbit, the Discovery orbiter docks with the International Space Station (ISS). The docking is shown in a series of still images. The video includes clips from four extravehicular activities (EVAs). The crew members who performed the EVAs comment on them while speaking to Mission Control. During the EVAs, the Z1 Truss and an antenna are attached to the ISS. The crew members on the fourth EVA test jet packs. Views of landing include: TV-1, TV-2, TV-3, LRO-1, and HUD.

Source record↗

The UAH/NSSTC Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR)

The past four years have seen a marked enhancement in meteorological-radar infrastructure and radar-research capability at the University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH) and National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC; a collaborative center supported by UAH, NASA-MSFC and USRA). This enhancement is due in part to the development of the ARMOR C-band dual-polarimetric radar facility (amongst other mobile radar facilities also discussed in this conference). The ARMOR radar, located at Huntsville International Airport, originated as a unique collaboration between university, government and broadcast meteorologists (the very first of its kind relative to concurrent operational, research and broadcast applications of dual-polarimetry). Contributions from each of these entities resulted in the upgrade of a surplus National Weather Service WSR-74C radar to a research-grade C-band polarimetric radar. The initial upgrade of the radar took place in late 2004 with WHNT-TV purchase and installation of a SIGMET (now Vaisala) Antenna Mounted Receiver (AMR), RVP8/RCP8 radar processor/antenna controller, new radome, and a new dual-polarimetric antenna feed. The AMR enabled simultaneous transmit and receive (STSR) capability and hence collection of dual-polarimetric moments. During the initial part of the AMR upgrade the original WSR74C antenna reflector and 250 kW magnetron-transmitter were used. In early 2005, a new 350 kW magnetron transmitter was purchased from Baron Services and installed. In October of 2006 a new high performance parabolic antenna and dual-pol feed (Seavey) were installed together with a new Orbit pedestal. ARMOR Radar control and data delivery are facilitated through the use of T-1 lines that run from the airport to both NSSTC and WHNT-TV in Huntsville. Under current operating protocols radar scanning and product development are completed at NSSTC, though meteorologists at WHNT-TV can also control the radar if desired. In its default scanning configuration the radar is operated 24/7 in an STSR polarimetric rain scan mode alternating with a surveillance scan on a 5-minute cycle; scans separated by 2.5 minutes. Every 2.5 minutes the raw data arrive at NSSTC where they are corrected in real time for attenuation and differential attenuation (using a constrained ZDR/Z-PHI approach) and new products are generated (e.g., rain maps, hydrometeor identification etc.). The raw and derived products are archived at NSSTC and also redistributed locally in real time over the network within NSSTC to the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Huntsville (collocated with NSSTC) for operational use. During periods of interesting weather the radar is often operated in full, sector, or RHI volume modes from NSSTC and coincident with UAH mobile radar or NWS NEXRAD radar platforms as needed.

Petersen, Walter A.↗

Aerodynamic Models for the Low Density Supersonic Declerator (LDSD) Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test (SFDT)

An overview of pre-flight aerodynamic models for the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test (SFDT) campaign is presented, with comparisons to reconstructed flight data and discussion of model updates. The SFDT campaign objective is to test Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) and large supersonic parachute technologies at high altitude Earth conditions relevant to entry, descent, and landing (EDL) at Mars. Nominal SIAD test conditions are attained by lifting a test vehicle (TV) to 36 km altitude with a large helium balloon, then accelerating the TV to Mach 4 and and 53 km altitude with a solid rocket motor. The first flight test (SFDT-1) delivered a 6 meter diameter robotic mission class decelerator (SIAD-R) to several seconds of flight on June 28, 2014, and was successful in demonstrating the SFDT flight system concept and SIAD-R. The trajectory was off-nominal, however, lofting to over 8 km higher than predicted in flight simulations. Comparisons between reconstructed flight data and aerodynamic models show that SIAD-R aerodynamic performance was in good agreement with pre-flight predictions. Similar comparisons of powered ascent phase aerodynamics show that the pre-flight model overpredicted TV pitch stability, leading to underprediction of trajectory peak altitude. Comparisons between pre-flight aerodynamic models and reconstructed flight data are shown, and changes to aerodynamic models using improved fidelity and knowledge gained from SFDT-1 are discussed.

Van Norman, John W.↗

MMS Observatory Thermal Vacuum Results Contamination Summary

The MMS mission is a constellation of 4 observatories designed to investigate the fundamental plasma physics of reconnection in the Earths magnetosphere. Each spacecraft has undergone extensive environmental testing to prepare it for its minimum 2 year mission. The various instrument suites measure electric and magnetic fields, energetic particles, and plasma composition. Thermal vacuum testing was conducted at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in their Big Blue vacuum chamber. The individual spacecraft were tested and enclosed in a cryopanel enclosure called a Hamster cage. Specific contamination control validations were actively monitored by several QCMs, a facility RGA, and at times, with 16 Ion Gauges. Each spacecraft underwent a bakeout phase, followed by 4 thermal cycles. Unique aspects of the TV environment included slow pump downs with represses, thruster firings, Helium identification, and monitoring pressure spikes with Ion gauges. Various data from these TV tests will be shown along with lessons learned.

TV↗

RANGER PREFLIGHT SCIENCE ANALYSIS AND THE LUNAR PHOTOMETRIC MODEL

A photometric model of the lunar mare surface is presented. The lighting parameters for the Ranger 3,4, and 5 TV system are developed using the photometric model, and related to the system parameters. The interactions of the TV constraints with those imposed by the other experiments and by trajectory characteristics are discussed in detail, and the use of plastic spheres to show graphically the interrelationships among the parameters is described.

PHOTOMETRY↗

Sensory, Decision and Control Systems: April to July 1966

The quarter reported here for the NASA contract, and the longer period reported for the Air Force contract, saw the development of two system concepts for the transmission of video data from a remote location to Earth. In the simpler system, a stereoscopic outline together with other data such as reflectance and possibly the texture of objects will be transmitted to Earth. The objects considered are those larger than a predetermined size and within a predetermined range. From the stereoscopic outlines presented to the operator on Earth he will decide what objects he would like pictured in full TV frames and order these transmitted. In the more elaborate system, TV cameras will be carried on a vehicle and the direction in which the vehicle moves will be chosen by an onboard decision computer. Perceptual decisions may also be made to identify objects whose characteristics have been reported to Earth and whose value to the Earth observer has been communicated back to the perceptual computer. The assembly of cameras, perceptual computer, decision computer and vehicle is called a robot. Photosensors for this robot are television cameras, the first models of which have been tested under computer control. A model of both the perceptual computer and the decision computer has been simulated. It consists of 12 modules, each of which makes an initial guess as to what the response to incoming data should be. Each takes the data from all other modules and combines it in a nonlinear fashion with the data coming directly into it to arrive at a mixed guess as to what act should be performed. When 60% of the modules vote 0. 5 probability for one act, that act is performed. Convergence to a satisfactory decision took from 5 to 25 time steps. The model of the frog's retina previously reported is here extended to that part of the brain, called the tectum, where the frog begins to respond to objects detected by the retina.

Control system↗

New Apollo lunar communications

Apollo lunar surface S band communications and TV systems and equipment, including ground commanded TV assembly

Sawyer, R. S.↗

Remote sensing for detection of soil limitations in agricultural areas

Automatic analysis of soil limitations studied by an automatic color TV density slicing system was accomplished. This system color codes the density range of the value component of color of an image. Maps of soil limitations or other similar soil groups are produced by photographing the color coded representation of an area. The planimeter feature of the density slicing system measures the area of each soil limitation providing information on the importance of a soil limitation in an area. The results of this study suggest that an automatic color TV density slicing system has great potential not only for identifying and mapping similar soil areas, but also for indicating the percentage composition of an area.

Frazee, C. J.↗

Processing on-board optical data for planetary approach navigation.

The Mariner 9 spacecraft's science television camera provided an optical navigation experiment with TV pictures containing images of Mars' natural satellites against star backgrounds. Required TV image data and spacecraft engineering data were extracted from the spacecraft telemetry stream in this near-real time experiment designed to validate the navigation content of spacecraft-based optical data. This paper discusses the computer programs developed to prepare optical data for use in a navigation filter. Ground and in-flight calibration allowed pointing knowledge of better than 6 arc seconds. System performance during Mars approach was excellent, leading to extremely accurate trajectory estimates. The experiment provides a basis for the design of equivalent systems for future missions.

Acton, C. H., Jr.↗

A high-power communications technology satellite for the 12 and 14 GHz bands.

Description of the mission, subsystems and communication capabilities of a joint Communications Technology Satellite (CTS) scheduled for launch in 1975 by the Canadian Department of Communications in cooperation with NASA. The principal objectives of the mission are TV transmission at 12 GHz to low-cost ground terminals, up-link TV transmission at 14 GHz transportable terminals, and flight tests of spacecraft subsystems and components for future communications satellites. The major advanced spacecraft subsystems are a novel superefficiency TWT design, a 0.4 mlb Mercury Bombardment ion engine for north-south station keeping, a 3-axis stabilization system to maintain a high antenna boresight pointing accuracy, a liquid metal slip ring experiment, and a lightweight extendible solar array with an initial power output greater than 1 kW.

Franklin, C. A.↗