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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Apollo data analysis experiment S-211. Low brightness image data analysis

The scientific analyses of photographic data in astronomy obtained by the Apollo Orbital Science Photographic Team during Apollo flights 14 through 17 are described. Some of the tasks are the collection and correlation of Quick-Look listings, working prints for further study, the generation of post-mission reports, and project reports. Postflight calibrations of the flight photographic systems are carried out, and lens vignetting effects are corrected. The data handling is described and includes photodigitization of photographic scenes, calibrated step-wedges, and vignetting patterns, which are followed by computer program processing of the film density readings.

Mercer, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS2004

[Development of Nanotechnology for X-Ray Astronomy Instrumentation]

This Research Grant provides support for development of nanotechnology for x-ray astronomy instrumentation. MIT has made significant progress in several development areas. In the last year we have made considerable progress in demonstrating the high-fidelity patterning and replication of x-ray reflection gratings. We developed a process for fabricating blazed gratings in silicon with extremely smooth and sharp sawtooth profiles, and developed a nanoimprint process for replication. We also developed sophisticated new fixturing for holding thin optics during metrology without causing distortion. We developed a new image processing algorithm for our Shack-Hartmann tool that uses Zernike polynomials. This has resulted in much more accurate and repeatable measurements on thin optics.

Schattenburg, Mark L.↗
DOE OSTI2015

OBSERVATIONS OF AN ENERGETICALLY ISOLATED QUIET SUN TRANSIENT: EVIDENCE OF QUASI-STEADY CORONAL HEATING

Increasing evidence for coronal heating contributions from cooler solar atmospheric layers, notably quiet Sun (QS) conditions, challenges standard solar atmospheric descriptions of bright transition region (TR) emission. As such, questions about the role of dynamic QS transients in contributing to the total coronal energy budget are raised. Using observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and Heliosemic Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and numerical model extrapolations of coronal magnetic fields, we investigate a dynamic QS transient that is energetically isolated to the TR and extrudes from a common footpoint shared with two heated loop arcades. A non-causal relationship is established between episodic heating of the QS transient and widespread magnetic field re-organization events, while evidence is found favoring a magnetic topology that is typical of eruptive processes. Quasi-steady interchange reconnection events are implicated as a source of the transient’s visibly bright radiative signature. We consider the QS transient’s temporally stable (≈35 minutes) radiative nature to occur as a result of the large-scale magnetic field geometries of the QS and/or relatively quiet nature of the magnetic photosphere, which possibly act to inhibit energetic build-up processes that are required to initiate a catastrophic eruption phase. This work provides insight into the QS’s thermodynamic and magnetic relation to eruptive processes that quasi-steadily heat a small-scale dynamic and TR transient. This work explores arguments of non-negligible coronal heating contributions from cool atmospheric layers in QS conditions and contributes evidence to the notion that solar wind mass feeds off of dynamic transients therein.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Vera C. Rubin Observatory Prompt Products: alert packets data

Data products produced by prompt and daily processing of images obtained in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. These include realtime alerts sent to community alert brokers, newly-discovered Solar System Objects reported to the Minor Planet Center, processed visit and difference images, and source catalogs. Prompt Products are not a static single data release but continually grow throughout the ten-year LSST survey. This dataset is a subset of the full data release consisting of a dataset named alert packets. This dataset contains measurements for 5-sigma sources detected in difference images that were issued to the community brokers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Physics of the Cosmos and Cosmic Origins Technology Development Programs

NASA's Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) and Cosmic Origins (COR) Program Offices, established in 2011, reside at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The offices serve as the implementation arm for the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. We present an overview of the programs' technology development activities and technology investment portfolio, funded by NASA's Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) program. We currently fund 19 technology advancements to enable future PCOS and COR missions to help answer the questions "How did our universe begin and evolve?" and "How did galaxies, stars, and planets come to be?" We discuss the process for addressing community-provided technology gaps and Technology Management Board (TMB)-vetted prioritization and investment recommendations that inform the SAT program. The process improves the transparency and relevance of our technology investments, provides the community a voice in the process, and promotes targeted external technology investments by defining needs and identifying customers. The programs' goal is to promote and support technology development needed to enable missions envisioned by the National Research Council's (NRC) "New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics" (NWNH) Decadal Survey report [1] and the Astrophysics Implementation Plan (AIP) [2]. These include technology development for dark energy, gravitational waves, X-ray and inflation probe science, and a 4m-class UV/optical telescope to conduct imaging and spectroscopy studies, as a post-Hubble observatory with significantly improved sensitivity and capability.

Technology Management Board (TMB)↗
DOE OSTI2016

Transient events in archival very large array observations of the galactic center

The Galactic center has some of the highest stellar densities in the Galaxy and a range of interstellar scattering properties, which may aid in the detection of new radio-selected transient events. Here, we describe a search for radio transients in the Galactic center, using over 200 hr of archival data from the Very Large Array at 5 and 8.4 GHz. Every observation of Sgr A* from 1985 to 2005 has been searched using an automated processing and detection pipeline sensitive to transients with timescales between 30 s and 5 minutes with a typical detection threshold of ∼100 mJy. Eight possible candidates pass tests to filter false-positives from radio-frequency interference, calibration errors, and imaging artifacts. Two events are identified as promising candidates based on the smoothness of their light curves. Despite the high quality of their light curves, these detections remain suspect due to evidence of incomplete subtraction of the complex structure in the Galactic center, and apparent contingency of one detection on reduction routines. Events of this intensity (∼100 mJy) and duration (∼100 s) are not obviously associated with known astrophysical sources, and no counterparts are found in data at other wavelengths. We consider potential sources, including Galactic center pulsars, dwarf stars, sources like GCRT J1745−3009, and bursts from X-ray binaries. None can fully explain the observed transients, suggesting either a new astrophysical source or a subtle imaging artifact. More sensitive multiwavelength studies are necessary to characterize these events, which, if real, occur with a rate of 14{sub −12}{sup +32} hr{sup −1} deg{sup −2} in the Galactic center.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1981

Further developments of electrographic image detectors

This paper reports the current status of a program to develop far- and middle-ultraviolet-sensitive electrographic detectors. These include large-format, semitransparent-photocathode detectors and opaque-photocathode electrographic Schmidt cameras. Modifications of a previously-demonstrated far-UV large-format detector to make it suitable for possible Shuttle/Spacelab space astronomy investigations have been implemented and tested. Middle-ultraviolet-sensitive large-format and Schmidt electrographic detectors are now in the laboratory development stage. Cesium telluride photocathodes are used to provide sensitivity in the 1700-3100 A spectral range, and techniques for processing these photocathodes are discussed. The preparation and use of polyimide barrier membranes, for protecting the photocathodes from deterioration by film outgassing, are described. A new opaque-photocathode vacuum-ultraviolet-sensitive electrographic detector has been demonstrated, which is based on an oblique-focusing electron optical system similar to that used by Princeton with electron-bombarded CCD arrays. Test results and potential applications of this detector are described.

Carruthers, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Goldstone solar system radar

Planning, direction, experimental design, and coordination of data-acquisition and engineering activities in support of all Goldstone planetary radar astronomy were performed. This work demands familiarity with the various components of a planetary radar telescope (transmitter, receiver, antenna, computer hardware and software) as well as knowledge of how the entire system must function as a cohesive unit to meet the particular scientific objectives at hand in a given observation. Support radar data-processing facilities, currently being used for virtually all Goldstone data reduction includes: a VAX 11/780 computer system, an FPS 5210 array processor, terminals, tape drives, and image-display devices, as well as a large body of data-reduction software to accommodate the variety of data-acquisition formats and strategems. Successful 113-cm radar observation of Callisto and the near-Earth asteroid 1981 Midas and Goldstone/VLA radar observations of Saturn's rings were obtained. Quick-look verification programs from data taken with phase-coded cw (i.e., ranging) waveforms, applicable to Venus, the Moon, and small bodies were completed. Definition of scientific and engineering requirements on instrument performance, radar system configuration, and personnel, for all 1988 Goldstone radar investigations was accomplished.

Jurgens, Raymond F.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Astro2020 Science White Paper: Insights Into the Epoch of Reionization with the Highly-Redshifted 21-cm Line

The epoch of reionization, when photons from early galaxies ionized the intergalactic medium about a billion years after the Big Bang, is the last major phase transition in the Universe's history. Measuring the characteristics of the transition is important for understanding early galaxies and the cosmic web and for modeling dwarf galaxies in the later Universe. But such measurements require probes of the intergalactic medium itself. Here we describe how the 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen provides a powerful probe of the reionization process and therefore important constraints on both the galaxies and intergalactic absorbers at that time. While existing experiments will make precise statistical measurements over the next decade, we argue that improved 21-cm analysis techniques - allowing imaging of the neutral gas itself - as well as improved theoretical models, are crucial for testing our understanding of this important era.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigation of the Brighter-fatter Effect in the LSST Camera

Abstract Thick, fully depleted charge-coupled devices are known to exhibit nonlinear behavior at high signal levels due to the dynamic behavior of charges collecting in the potential wells of pixels, called the brighter-fatter effect (BFE). The effect results in distorted images of bright calibration stars, creating a flux-dependent point-spread function that if left unmitigated, could make up a large fraction of the error budget in Stage IV weak-lensing (WL) surveys such as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). In this paper, we analyze image measurements of flat fields and artificial stars taken at different illumination levels with the LSST Camera (LSSTCam) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in order to quantify this effect in the LSSTCam before and after a previously introduced correction technique. We observe that the BFE evolves anisotropically as a function of flux due to higher-order BFEs, which violates the fundamental assumption of this correction method. We then introduce a new method based on a physically motivated model to account for these higher-order terms in the correction, and then we test the modified correction on both data sets. We find that the new method corrects the effect in flat fields better than it corrects the effect in artificial stars, which we suggest is the result of sub-pixel physics not included in this correction model. We use these results to define a new metric for the full-well capacity of our sensors and advise image processing strategies to further limit the impact of the effect on LSST WL science pathways.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS1982

Images of the future - Two decades in astronomy

Future instruments for the 100-10,000 A UV-wavelength region will require detectors with greater quantum efficiency, smaller picture elements, a greater wavelength range, and greater active area than those currently available. After assessing the development status and performance characteristics of vidicons, image tubes, electronographic cameras, digicons, silicon arrays and microchannel plate intensifiers presently employed by astronomical spacecraft, attention is given to such next-generation detectors as the Mosaicked Optical Self-scanned Array Imaging Camera, which consists of a photocathode deposited on the input side of a microchannel plate intensifier. The problems posed by the signal processing and data analysis requirements of the devices foreseen for the 21st century are noted.

Weistrop, D.↗
DOE OSTI2015

The GRISM Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS). I. Survey overview and first data release

We give an overview of the Grism Lens Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS), a large Hubble Space Telescope program aimed at obtaining grism spectroscopy of the fields of 10 massive clusters of galaxies at redshift z = 0.308–0.686, including the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF). The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) yields near-infrared spectra of the cluster cores covering the wavelength range 0.81–1.69 μm through grisms G102 and G141, while the Advanced Camera for Surveys in parallel mode provides G800L spectra of the infall regions of the clusters. The WFC3 spectra are taken at two almost orthogonal position angles in order to minimize the effects of confusion. After summarizing the scientific drivers of GLASS, we describe the sample selection as well as the observing strategy and data processing pipeline. We then utilize MACS J0717.5+3745, a HFF cluster and the first one observed by GLASS, to illustrate the data quality and the high-level data products. Each spectrum brighter than H{sub AB}=23 is visually inspected by at least two co-authors and a redshift is measured when sufficient information is present in the spectra. Furthermore, we conducted a thorough search for emission lines through all of the GLASS WFC3 spectra with the aim of measuring redshifts for sources with continuum fainter than H{sub AB}=23. We provide a catalog of 139 emission-line-based spectroscopic redshifts for extragalactic sources, including three new redshifts of multiple image systems (one probable, two tentative). In addition to the data itself, we also release software tools that are helpful to navigate the data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2006

Overview of the Solar-B Mission

The Solar-B mission is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) of the United Kingdom and the European Space Agency. The principal scientific goals of the mission are to understand the processes of magnetic field generation, transport and ultimate dissipation of solar magnetic fields and how the release of magnetic energy is responsible for the heating and structuring of the chromosphere and corona. The scientific payload consists of three instruments: the Solar Optical Telescope that consists of the Optical Telescope Assembly and the Focal Plane Package (FPP), the X-ray Telescope and the EUV Imaging Spectrometer Each instrument is a result of the combined talents of all the members of the international team and their design and performance is described in separate papers in this session. The instruments are designed to work together as an 'observatory' simultaneously studying the target, at which the spacecraft is pointed, at different levels in the atmosphere. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch in September 2006 from the Uchinoura Space Center into a 600 km circular, sun-synchronous, polar orbit with a nominal elevation of 97.9 degrees. The orbit provides at least two morning and two evening contacts in Japan. Morning contacts are used for recovering quick look science data and the evening contacts for uploading commands. In addition ESA will provide 15 contacts per day from the Norwegian high latitude (78deg 14' N) ground station at Svalbard. The data downloads are transmitted to the ISAS Sirius database. They will be reformatted into FITS files and archived as Level 0 data on the ISAS DARTS system and made available to the scientific community. Scientific operations will be conducted from the IS AS facility located in Sagamihara, Japan. They are separated into planning, implementation and archiving. The planning process involves monthly, weekly and daily planning meetings. All scientific data will be made available after the first six month approximately one week after its collection.

Davis, John M.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Hard-X-Ray/Soft-Gamma-Ray Imaging Sensor Assembly for Astronomy

An improved sensor assembly has been developed for astronomical imaging at photon energies ranging from 1 to 100 keV. The assembly includes a thallium-doped cesium iodide scintillator divided into pixels and coupled to an array of high-gain avalanche photodiodes (APDs). Optionally, the array of APDs can be operated without the scintillator to detect photons at energies below 15 keV. The array of APDs is connected to compact electronic readout circuitry that includes, among other things, 64 independent channels for detection of photons in various energy ranges, up to a maximum energy of 100 keV, at a count rate up to 3 kHz. The readout signals are digitized and processed by imaging software that performs "on-the-fly" analysis. The sensor assembly has been integrated into an imaging spectrometer, along with a pair of coded apertures (Fresnel zone plates) that are used in conjunction with the pixel layout to implement a shadow-masking technique to obtain relatively high spatial resolution without having to use extremely small pixels. Angular resolutions of about 20 arc-seconds have been measured. Thus, for example, the imaging spectrometer can be used to (1) determine both the energy spectrum of a distant x-ray source and the angular deviation of the source from the nominal line of sight of an x-ray telescope in which the spectrometer is mounted or (2) study the spatial and temporal development of solar flares, repeating - ray bursters, and other phenomena that emit transient radiation in the hard-x-ray/soft- -ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Myers, Richard A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Advanced Energetic Pair Telescope for Gamma-Ray Polarimetry

The Advanced Energetic Pair Telescope (AdEPT), a future NASA/GSFC MIDEX mission, is being developed to perform high-sensitivity medium-energy (5-200 MeV) astronomy and revolutionary gamma-ray polarization measurements. The enabling technology for AdEPT is the Three- Dimensional Track Imager (3-DTI), a large volume gaseous time projection chamber with 2- dimentional micro-well detector (MWD) readout. The low density and high spatial resolution of the 3-DTI allows AdEPT to achieve high angular resolution (~0.5 at 67.5 MeV) and, for the first time, exceptional gamma-ray polarization sensitivity. These capabilities enable a wide range of scientific discovery potential for AdEPT. The key science goals of the AdEPT mission include: 1) Explore fundamental processes of particle acceleration in active astrophysical objects, 2) Reveal the magnetic field configuration of the most energetic accelerators in the Universe, 3) Explore the origins and acceleration of cosmic rays and the Galactic MeV diffuse emission, 4) Search for dark matter in the Galactic center, and 5) Test relativity with polarization measurements. We report on the latest developments of the MWDs for the 3-DTI.

Hunter, Stanley D.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Automated Blazar Light Curves Using Machine Learning

Every night in a remote clearing called Fenton Hill high in the Jemez Mountains of central New Mexico, a bank of robotically controlled telescopes tilt their lenses to the sky for another round of observation through digital imaging. Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Thinking Telescopes project is watching for celestial transients including high-power cosmic flashes called, and like all science, it can be messy work. To keep the project clicking along, Los Alamos scientists routinely install equipment upgrades, maintain the site, and refine the sophisticated machinelearning computer programs that process those images and extract useful data from them. Each week the system amasses 100,000 digital images of the heavens, some of which are compromised by clouds, wind gusts, focus problems, and so on. For a graduate student at the Lab taking a year’s break between master’s and Ph.D. studies, working with state-of-the-art autonomous telescopes that can make fundamental discoveries feels light years beyond the classroom.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2010

Two-Dimensional Synthetic-Aperture Radiometer

A two-dimensional synthetic-aperture radiometer, now undergoing development, serves as a test bed for demonstrating the potential of aperture synthesis for remote sensing of the Earth, particularly for measuring spatial distributions of soil moisture and ocean-surface salinity. The goal is to use the technology for remote sensing aboard a spacecraft in orbit, but the basic principles of design and operation are applicable to remote sensing from aboard an aircraft, and the prototype of the system under development is designed for operation aboard an aircraft. In aperture synthesis, one utilizes several small antennas in combination with a signal processing in order to obtain resolution that otherwise would require the use of an antenna with a larger aperture (and, hence, potentially more difficult to deploy in space). The principle upon which this system is based is similar to that of Earth-rotation aperture synthesis employed in radio astronomy. In this technology the coherent products (correlations) of signals from pairs of antennas are obtained at different antenna-pair spacings (baselines). The correlation for each baseline yields a sample point in a Fourier transform of the brightness-temperature map of the scene. An image of the scene itself is then reconstructed by inverting the sampled transform. The predecessor of the present two-dimensional synthetic-aperture radiometer is a one-dimensional one, named the Electrically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR). Operating in the L band, the ESTAR employs aperture synthesis in the cross-track dimension only, while using a conventional antenna for resolution in the along-track dimension. The two-dimensional instrument also operates in the L band to be precise, at a frequency of 1.413 GHz in the frequency band restricted for passive use (no transmission) only. The L band was chosen because (1) the L band represents the long-wavelength end of the remote- sensing spectrum, where the problem of achieving adequate spatial resolution is most critical and (2) imaging airborne instruments that operate in this wavelength range and have adequate spatial resolution are difficult to build and will be needed in future experiments to validate approaches for remote sensing of soil moisture and ocean salinity. The two-dimensional instrument includes a rectangular array of patch antennas arranged in the form of a cross. The ESTAR uses analog correlation for one dimension, whereas the two-dimensional instrument uses digital correlation. In two dimensions, many more correlation pairs are needed and low-power digital correlators suitable for application in spaceborne remote sensing will help enable this technology. The two-dimensional instrument is dual-polarized and, with modification, capable of operating in a polarimetric mode. A flight test of the instrument took place in June 2003 and it participated in soil moisture experiments during the summers of 2003 and 2004.

LeVine, David M.↗