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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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1978

Origin of the stepped topography of the Martian poles

Ablation and condensation of water vapor are suggested as the principal factors responsible for the circumpolar layered and stepped terrain found at the North and South Poles of Mars. A metastable erosion rate due to decreasing albedo and increasing radiation input caused by dust deposits on the steeper slopes of the ablating layered deposits provides a mechanism for the development of the stepped topography. Loose excess dust accumulated during scarp ablation may then be removed by wind erosion.

Howard, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Topography, structure, and mare ridges in southern Mare Imbrium and northern Oceanus Procellarum

The gross topography in southern Mare Imbrium and northern Oceanus Procellarum correlates with the buried structure and deposits of the Imbrium Basin and its rim, and many of the mare slopes may be depositional and reflect the pre-existing major features of the basin. Post-depositional, local distortion of the mare surface, however, is present and in many places associated with mare ridges. Many mare ridges are concentric to the Imbrium Basin suggesting that they are influenced by basin structures. Morphologic diversity of mare ridges suggests that not all have the same origin, and volcanic activity took place along some of them. Most mare ridges are associated with faults. The faults could be reverse and associated with a shrinking of the moon, however, some ridges parallel slopes and could be interpreted as decollement thrust faults along gliding horizons or as vertical faults caused by differential gravitational settling along lines that separate areas that are thinly flooded on topographic highs from areas that are thickly flooded in adjacent lows.

Lucchitta, B. K.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Maintenance of quasi-stationary waves in a 2-level quasi-geostrophic spectral model with topography

The maintenance of the quasi-stationary waves obtained through numerically integrating a 2-level quasi-geostrophic spectral model on a beta-plane is investigated. An idealized topography which has only wavenumber n in the zonal direction and the first mode in the meridional direction is used to force the quasi-stationary waves. It is shown that the topographical forcing is not necessarily the mechanism for maintaining the quasi-stationary waves.

Yao, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Problems in determining sea surface topography

Anticipated problems for determining ocean dynamics signals from sea surface topography are discussed. The needs for repeated tracks are listed if oceanic tides or ocean turbulence are to be determined.

Whitehead, J. A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Mare Crisium area topography - A comparison of earth-based radar and Apollo mapping camera results

An earth-based radar topography (ERT) map has been constructed of the Mare Crisium area. Systematic and random sources of error are discussed. A comparison between the ERT map and Lunar Topographic Orthophotomaps shows a random mean discrepancy of less than 100 m between the two maps, except for small-scale (20 km or less in diameter) features, where systematic smoothing reduces the ERT elevation contrast

Zisk, S.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Viking radio occultation measurements of the atmosphere and topography of Mars - Data acquired during 1 Martian year of tracking

The results of one Martian year of radio occultation measurements of the atmosphere and topography of Mars obtained using the Viking Orbiters are briefly summarized. Determinations of the vertical distribution of tropospheric gas refractivity and ionospheric electron density obtained from atmospheric Doppler frequency perturbations of the S and X band radio tracking frequencies indicate large meteorological variations, with near-surface temperatures ranging from 150 to 250 K, 5-km atmospheric pressure ranging from 3.5 to 4.8 mbar, inversion layers over the polar caps and dust storms, and seasonal pressure variations. Double- and single-layered upper atmospheric electron density profiles were observed on the sunlit and dark sides of the planet, respectively. A topographic map of the Martian surface, obtained from the limb diffraction effects observed at ingress and egress, is found to agree well with the elevation contours of US Geological survey map M 25M 3 RMC, with the exception of the south polar and Alba Patera regions.

Lindal, G. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

X-ray topography study of complex silicon microcircuits

The correlation between the yield of silicon microcircuits wafers versus defects observed in X-ray topographs produced by a high speed curved wafer X-ray topographic camera was investigated. Most of the topographs were made after final wafer probe. Results indicated that most high volume silicon wafer processing does not need X-ray topography as a routine process control. It is further indicated that in changing any existing process or developing a new process the technique can be of significant benefit.

Parker, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Topography of Venus and earth - A test for the presence of plate tectonics

Comparisons of earth and Venus topography by use of Pioneer/Venus radar altimetry are examined. Approximately 93% of the Venus surface has been mapped with a horizontal resolution of 200 km and a vertical resolution of 200 m. Tectonic troughs have been indicated in plains regions which cover 65% of Venus, and hypsometric comparisons between the two planets' elevation distributions revealed that while the earth has a bimodal height distribution, Venus displays a unimodal configuration, with 60% of the planet surface within 500 m of the modal planet radius. The effects of mapping the earth at the same resolution as the Venus observations were explored. Continents and oceans were apparent, and although folded mountains appeared as high spots, no indications of tectonic activity were discernible. A NASA Venus Orbiting Imaging radar is outlined, which is designed to detect volcanoes, folded mountain ranges, craters, and faults, and thereby allow definition of possible plate-tectonic activity on Venus.

Head, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Evaluation of methods for characterizing surface topography of models for high Reynolds number wind-tunnels

Current work by the National Bureau of Standards at the NASA National Transonic Facility (NTF) to evaluate the performance of stylus instruments for determining the topography of models under investigation is described along with instrumentation for characterization of the surface microtopography. Potential areas of surface effects are reviewed, and the need for finer surfaced models for the NTF high Reynolds number flows is stressed. Current stylus instruments have a radii as large as 25 microns, and three models with surface finishes of 4-6, 8-10, and 12-15 micro-in. rms surface finishes were fabricated for tests with a stylus with a tip radius of 1 micron and a 50 mg force. Work involving three-dimensional stylus profilometry is discussed in terms of stylus displacement being converted to digital signals, and the design of a light scattering instrument capable of measuring the surface finish on curved objects is presented.

Teague, E. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Photoclinometric determination of the topography of the Martian north polar cap

Photoclinometry is useful for the determination of topography for areas which have a uniform albedo. The technique is applied to early spring Viking images of the Martian north polar cap, taken when the surface was covered by a nearly uniform frost cover. Unlike earlier approaches, the topographic profiling can be used for surfaces with any photometric function, but the strike of the planetary surface relative to the illumination angle must be specified along the profile. The resultant profiles are relatively insensitive to misestimation of the photometric function and slope orientation, but are quite sensitive to the assumed values of the reflectance of an equivalent level surface and the atmospheric opacity (if it is large).

Howard, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Ion-beam-induced topography and surface diffusion

It is pointed out that the development of surface topography along with enhanced surface and bulk diffusion processes accompanying ion bombardment have generated growing interest among users of ion beams and plasmas for thin film or material processing. Interest in these processes stems both from attempts to generate topographic changes for specific studies or applications and from the need to suppress or control undesirable changes. The present investigation provides a summary of the current status of impurity-induced texturing, with emphasis on recent developments. Particular attention is given to the texturing accompanying deposition of an impurity material onto a solid surface while simultaneously etching the surface with an ion beam. A description of experimental considerations is provided, and a thermal-diffusion model is discussed along with the development of sputter cones, and aspects of impact-enhanced surface diffusion.

Robinson, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Classification of journal surfaces using surface topography parameters and software methods to compensate for stylus geometry

Measurements made with a stylus surface tracer which provides a digitized representation of a surface profile are discussed. Parameters are defined to characterize the height (e.g., RMS roughness, skewness, and kurtosis) and length (e.g., autocorrelation) of the surface topography. These are applied to the characterization of crank shaft journals which were manufactured by different grinding and lopping procedures known to give significant differences in crank shaft bearing life. It was found that three parameters (RMS roughness, skewness, and kurtosis) are necessary to adequately distinguish the character of these surfaces. Every surface specimen has a set of values for these three parameters. They can be regarded as a set coordinate in a space constituted by three characteristics axes. The various journal surfaces can be classified along with the determination of a proper wavelength cutoff (0.25 mm) by using a method of separated subspace. The finite radius of the stylus used for profile tracing gives an inherent measurement error as it passes over the fine structure of the surface. A mathematical model is derived to compensate for this error.

Li, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Absolute measurement by satellite altimetry of dynamic topography of the Pacific Ocean

The three-month Seasat mission has shown that altimetry is capable of providing global observations of oceanic variability. It is shown that data from this short, suboptimum mission are also adequate for a determination of the absolute sea-surface topography of the ocean on large scales. An absolute determination of the subtropical gyre of the North Pacific Ocean is obtained. This is believed to be the first direct measurement showing the existence of such a feature that does not depend on conventional hydrography and a series of assumptions.

Tai, C.-K.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Venus topography: Clue to hot-lithosphere tectonics?

The topography of Venus is studied in order to learn about hot lithosphere tectonic processes of Archean Earth. Except for the difference in H2O abundances (Archaen Earth was wet; modern Venus is very dry), linear zones on Venus may be analogous to the tectonic settings for some Archean greenstone belts.

Mcgill, G. E.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Temporal and spatial distribution of exhumed topography

Perhaps the greatest chance for exhumation, or burial, of a landscape by terrestrial processes exists near the boundaries of the climatic belts. In the Southern Hemisphere, there is comparatively little land area within Budel's zone of extra-tropical valley formation, which contains most of the examples of exhumed topography in the Northern Hemisphere. The only examples of resurrected landforms that occur within Budel's tropical zone are located near the boundary of this zone, where climate may have changed during the Pleistocene. The ages of exhumed landforms sampled are not equally distributed through geologic time. Most of the exhumed features were created either during the Precambrian or the Tertiary periods which are commonly cited as episodes of significant landform development.

Rhodes, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Rapid extraction of relative topography from Viking orbiter images. 2: Application to irregular topographic features

The ratio and flat field photoclinometric methods for determining crater form topography are described. Both methods compensate for the effects of atmospheric scattering by subtracting a haze value from all brightness values. Algorithms were altered to derive relative topographic data for irregular features such as ejecta blankets, lava flows, graben and ridge scarps, dune forms, and stratified materials. After the elevations along the profiles are obtained by integration of the photometric function, a matrix transformation is applied to the image coordinates of each pixel within each profile, utilizing each pixel's integral height, to produce a projection of each profile line onto the surface. Pixel brightness values are then resampled along the projected track of each profile to determine a more correct height value for each pixel. Precision of the methods is discussed.

Davis, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Modeling of SAR signatures of shallow water ocean topography

A hydrodynamic/electromagnetic model was developed to explain and quantify the relationship between the SEASAT synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observed signatures and the bottom topography of the ocean in the English Channel region of the North Sea. The model uses environmental data and radar system parameters as inputs and predicts SAR-observed backscatter changes over topographic changes in the ocean floor. The model results compare favorably with the actual SEASAT SAR observed backscatter values. The developed model is valid for only relatively shallow water areas (i.e., less than 50 meters in depth) and suggests that for bottom features to be visible on SAR imagery, a moderate to high velocity current and a moderate wind must be present.

Shuchman, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Laboratory simulation of pelagic asteroidal impact Atmospheric injection, benthic topography, and the surface wave radiation field

The hypervelocity impact (1.25-6 km/s) of projectiles into water overlying unconsolidated strata is reported for a variety of water depths. Variation of the background atmospheric pressure is found to be an important additional parameter. The relation of these exploratory experiments to pelagic impact of asteroidal-sized objects is discussed from the standpoint of atmospheric injection of sea water, the modification of bottom (benthic) topography, and the generation of a field of mega-amplitude sea waves and their propagation away from the source.

Gault, D. E.↗