Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Spectrometers”

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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1977

A mass spectrometer-beam experiment for investigations of planetary atmospheres

An experimental concept for investigation of planetary atmospheres using a mass spectrometer is discussed. High atmospheric pressures are reduced to mass spectrometer operating pressures by means of differential pumping. Sampling is accomplished through the formation of a molecular beam. A flag in front of the mass spectrometer can be used to separate ambient gases from system background. Laboratory tests have confirmed the feasibility of the experiment, particularly in CO2 dominated atmospheres.

Mauersberger, K.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Global model of longitude/UT variations in thermospheric composition and temperature based on mass spectrometer data

Measurements of N2, O, He, and Ar densities from neutral gas mass spectrometers on four satellites and inferred O2 and H densities from an ion mass spectrometer have been combined to produce a model of longitude/UT variations in thermospheric neutral composition and temperature. The longitude/UT model is an extension of the mass spectrometer-incoherent scatter thermospheric model (Hedin et al., 1977) and uses spherical harmonic terms dependent on geographic latitude, longitude, and UT. The combined longitude and UT variations reflect the influence of the geomagnetic field but indicate that the variations may not simply be represented in magnetic coordinates.

Hedin, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1979

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.

Houck, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Comparison of atmospheric density data from mass spectrometers and atmospheric drag on the Aeros satellites

The comparison of perigee density data near 230 km for satellite Aeros-A has been extended to the complete mission time. The average ratio between orbital drag derived density and mass spectrometer measurements is very near to 1 with a large scatter reflected by a standard deviation of the order of 20%. A method of comparison was developed and tested which uses the observed rate of change of orbital period in comparison with the orbital decay computed from the actual mass spectrometer data measured at discrete positions along the orbit. This method proves that deviations from the average ratio of 1 between perigee densities from drag and mass spectrometers are due to the smoothing and poor resolution of the orbital drag technique.

Roemer, M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Cosmic ray studies with a gas Cherenkov counter in association with an ionization spectrometer

The results from a balloon-borne gas Cherenkov counter (threshold 16.5 GeV/nucleon) and an ionization spectrometer are presented. The gas Cherenkov counter provides an absolute energy distribution for the response of the calorimeter for 5 or = Z 26 nuclei of cosmic rays. The contribution of scintillation to the gas Cherenkov pulse height was obtained by independently selecting particles below the gas Cherenkov threshold using the ionization spectrometer. Energy spectra were derived by minimizing the chi squared between Monte Carlo simulted data and flight data. Best fit power laws, dN/dE = AE-gamma, were determined for C, N, O, Ne, Mg, and Si. The power laws, all consistent with E (-2.7) are not good fits to the data. A better fit is obtained using the spectrum derived from the spectrometer. The data from the ionization calorimeter and the gas Cherenkov are thus completely self-consistent.

Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Cooled echelle grating spectrometer

A cooled echelle grating spectrometer for detecting wavelengths between one micron and fifteen microns is disclosed. More specifically, the spectrometer has a cross-dispersing grating for ordering infrared energy and an echelle grating for further ordering of the infrared energy. Ordered radiation from the echelle grating is sensed by a detecting means. Also disclosed is use of a Schmidt camera for focusing the further ordered radiation from the echelle grating onto a detector array having individual detectors dispersed on a plane which substantially corresponds to a curved focal plane of the Schmidt camera. A spectrometer constructed according to the teachings of the present invention will continuously cover the spectrum between one micron and fifteen microns and have a resolution of 0.1/cm.

Beer, R.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Pioneer Venus Sounder Probe Neutral Gas Mass Spectrometer

A neutral gas mass spectrometer was flown to Venus as part of the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe to measure the composition of its lower atmosphere. The instrument, mounted in the Sounder Probe, was activated after the probe entered the top of the atmosphere, and it obtained data during the descent from 62 km to the surface. Atmospheric gases were sampled through a pair of microleaks, the effluent from which was pumped by a combination of ion and getter pumping. A pneumatically operated valve, controlled by the ambient atmospheric pressure, maintained the ion source pressure at a nearly constant value during descent while the atmospheric pressure varied by three orders of magnitude. A single focusing magnetic sector field mass spectrometer with mass resolution sufficient to reasonably separate argon from C3H4 at 40 amu provided the mass analysis and relative abundance measurements. A microprocessor controlled the operation of the mass spectrometer through a highly efficient peak-tip stepping routine and data compression algorithm that effected a scan of the mass spectrum from 1 to 208 amu in 64 sec while requiring an information rate of only 40 bits/sec to return the data to earth. A subscale height altitude resolution was thus obtained. Weight, size, and power requirements were minimized to be consistent with interplanetary flight contraints.

Hoffman, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Cosmic ray studies with a gas Cerenkov counter in association with an ionization spectrometer

The results from a balloon-borne gas Cerenkov counter (threshold 16.5 GeV/nuc) and an ionization spectrometer are presented. The gas Cerenkov counter provides an absolute energy calibration for the response of the calorimeter for the Z range of 5-26 nuclei of cosmic rays. The contribution of scintillation to the gas Cerenkov pulse height has been obtained by independently selecting particles below the gas Cerenkov threshold using the ionization spectrometer. Energy spectra were derived by minimizing the chi-squared between a Monte Carlo simulated data and flight data. Best fit power laws were determined for C, N, O, Ne, Mg, and Si. The power laws, all consistent with E exp-2.7, are not good fits to the data. A better fit is obtained using the spectrum derived from the spectrometer.

Balasubrahmanyan, V. K.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Infrared Fourier spectrometer for airborne and ground-based astronomy

A unique high resolving power near-infrared, astronomical Fourier spectrometer has been constructed for use at both ground-based and airborne telescopes. Its capabilities include a limiting resolution of 0.01/cm and spectral coverage over the InSb detector sensitivity region (0.8-5.6 micron). The instrument is optimized for operation in environments inaccessible to other high-resolution Fourier spectrometers, namely, the Cassegrain focuses of conventional telescopes and the NASA Kuiper Airborne Observatory's 91-cm telescope. Details of the spectrometer are discussed, and various astronomical and laboratory spectra are presented.

Davis, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A cloud condensation nucleus spectrometer designed for airborne measurements

The spectrometer is a simple extension of the continuous flow diffusion chamber (CFDC) operated in the vertical mode. The principal new design features of the instrument are its rapid time response and ability to rapidly measure the CCN activity spectrum. The activity spectrum of CCN in an air sample is measured by simultaneously operating the spectrometer at four supersaturations. The CCN spectrometer consists of four essentially indepenent CFDC's in a parallel array. Each CFDC is 61 cm long, 10 cm wide, and consists of two vertical parallel plates 1 cm apart, maintained at different temperatures. Each CFDC has a single particle optical counter located at the center of its base.

Radke, L. F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

A Fourier transform spectrometer for visible and near ultra-violet measurements of atmospheric absorption

The development of a prototype, ground-based, Sun-pointed Michelson interferometric spectrometer is described. Its intended use is to measure the atmospheric amount of various gases which absorb in the near-infrared, visible, and near-ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Preliminary spectra which contain the alpha, 0.8 micrometer, and rho sigma tau water vapor absorption bands in the near-infrared are presented to indicate the present capability of the system. Ultimately, the spectrometer can be used to explore the feasible applications of Fourier transform spectroscopy in the ultraviolet where grating spectrometers were used exclusively.

Parsons, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

A Shuttle Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer /SUMS/ experiment

A magnetic mass spectrometer is currently being adapted to the Space Shuttle Orbiter to provide repeated high altitude atmosphere data to support in situ rarefied flow aerodynamics research, i.e., in the high velocity, low density flight regime. The experiment, called Shuttle Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer (SUMS), is the first attempt to design mass spectrometer equipment for flight vehicle aerodynamic data extraction. The SUMS experiment will provide total freestream atmospheric quantitites, principally total mass density, above altitudes at which conventional pressure measurements are valid. Experiment concepts, the expected flight profile, tradeoffs in the design of the total system and flight data reduction plans are discussed. Development plans are based upon a SUMS first flight after the Orbiter initial development flights.

Blanchard, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Extreme ultraviolet imaging spectrometer for thermospheric emissions

One of the instruments that has been developed to fly on the Space Shuttle is the Imaging Spectrometric Observatory, an array of five imaging spectrometers to cover the 300-12,000-A wavelength range. In this paper the spectrometer designed to operate in the extreme ultraviolet is described. The instrument is intended for studies of the thermosphere and magnetosphere and support of various plasma experiments to be performed from the Shuttle. The design is modular so that various components such as gratings and detectors can be changed and optimized for a range of specific studies following the first survey mission. The detector is an intensified 2-D CCD which permits simultaneous spectral and spatial imaging. The spectral multiplexing gives the spectrometer a considerable speed advantage. The instrument has a small field of view and is thus capable of obtaining much needed scale height information on the atmospheric EUV emissions. Operating from the Shuttle, global and temporal coverage will be obtained, and the EUV data will be enhanced by the simultaneously acquired UV, visible, and near-IR observations.

Torr, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Search for time variations in 511 keV flux by ISEE-3 gamma-ray spectrometer

Upper limits to the variation of galactic 511 keV flux as observed by the ISEE-3 gamma-ray spectrometer for 500 days of nearly continuous observation are reported. It is pointed out that if sources similar to the galactic center source were distributed uniformly throughout the Galaxy, a source within 2-3 kpc could have been detected by the ISEE-3 spectrometer. The lack of detection is evidence that the galactic center source is unique within the Galaxy. The galactic center observations made with the HEAO-3 gamma-ray spectrometer are seen as supporting the contention that a time-varying source is 511 keV emission lies near the galactic center.

Norris, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1984

An extreme ultraviolet spectrometer experiment for the Shuttle Get Away Special Program

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometer experiment operated successfully during the STS-7 mission in an experiment to measure the global and diurnal variation of the EUV airglow. The spectrometer is an F 3.5 Wadsworth mount with mechanical collimator, a 75 x 75 mm grating, and a bare microchannel plate detector providing a spectral resolution of 7 X FWHM. Read-out of the signal is through discrete channels or resistive anode techniques. The experiment includes a microcomputer, 20 Mbit tape recorder, and a 28V, 40 Ahr silver-zinc battery. It is the first GAS payload to use an opening door. The spectrometer's 0.1 x 4.2 deg field of view is pointed vertically out of the shuttle bay. During the STS-7 flight data were acquired continuously for a period of 5 hours and 37 minutes, providing spectra of the 570 A to 850 A wavelength region of the airglow. Five diurnal cycles of the 584 A emission of neutral helium and the 834 A emission of ionized atomic oxygen were recorded. The experiment also recorded ion events and pressure pulses associated with thruster firings. The experiment is to fly again on Mission 41-F.

Conway, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Variable line-space gratings - New designs for use in grazing incidence spectrometers

An account is given of a fundamentally different approach to the use of variable line-space gratings for grazing incidence spectrometers. In the new approach, the gratings are flat and they are placed to intercept the converging beam from a collecting mirror rather than the diverging beam from a slit. This results in (1) small aberrations over a wide instantaneous range in wavelength, (2) a modest required variation in line spacing across the ruled width, (3) a simultaneous minimization of both the spectral and image height aberrations, and (4) a completely stigmatic zero order image. The slitless arrangement common to these designs is very compact, having no additional length behind the focal plane of the collecting mirror. In-plane and conical fan designs are considered. One combination design, in the form of an echelle spectrometer, is discussed. The designs are considered to represent ideal candidates for moderate to high resolution spectrometers on such missions as the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE, now Columbus) and the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF).

Hettrick, M. C.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Cooled grating infrared spectrometer for astronomical observations

A liquid helium-cooled infrared spectrometer for the 16 to 50 micron range is described. The instrument has six detectors, three each of Si:Sb and Ge:Ga and two diffraction gratings mounted back-to-back. Cold preoptics are used to match the spectrometer to the telescope. In its nominal configuration the system resolution is 0.03 micron from 16 to 30 microns and 0.07 micron from 28 to 50 microns. A cooled filter wheel is used to change order sorting filters. The gratings are driven by a steel band and gear train operating at 4 K. The detector outputs are amplified by a TIA, employing a matched pair of JFETs operating at 70 K inside the dewar. The external warm electronics include a gain stage for the TIA and dc-coupled gating circuit to remove charged-particle (cosmic-ray secondary)-induced noise spikes. The gating circuit reduces the overall system noise by a factor of two when the spectrometer is used on NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Sample spectra are presented and the deglitcher performance is illustrated.

Houck, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Mobile spectrometer measures radar backscatter

The present article is concerned with a helicopter-borne spectrometer (Heloscat), which has been developed to permit high-quality scattering measurements from a mobile platform at remote sites. The term 'spectrometer' referes to a class of scatterometers. The term 'scatterometer' is employed to denote a specialized radar for measuring scattering coefficients as a function of angle. A spectrometer, on the other hand, is a scatterometer which can measure backscatter at several frequencies. The Heloscat system is discussed, taking into account two antennas, RF hardware, and an externally mounted pendulum for angle encoding. A dual-antenna configuration is used for cross-polarized measurements, while a single-antenna system is used for like-polarized measurements. Attention is also given to oscillator characteristics, efficient data handling, and aspects of calibration.

Gogineni, S.↗