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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 307 records · Page 17
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NASA NTRS2001

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

The joint U.S. and German SOFIA project to develop and operate a 2.5-meter infrared airborne telescope in a Boeing 747-SP is now well into development. First science flights will begin in 2004 with 20% of the observing time assigned to German investigators. The observatory is expected to operate for over 20 years. The sensitivity, characteristics and science instrument complement are discussed. Present and future instrumentation will allow unique astrobiology experiments to be carried out. Several experiments related to organic molecules in space will be discussed.

Becklin, Eric E.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Airborne Lightning Observatory for FEGS and TGFs (ALOFT)

The ALOFT campaign is a unique suborbital campaign to advance the science of highenergy radiation emissions from thunderstorms, validate existing spaceborne lightning mappers and evaluate design concepts for next-generation mappers, and study convection from a suborbital platform. ALOFT is a collaboration between NASA, the University of Bergen, and other institutions that will fly the ER-2 aircraft over tropical thunderstorms around the Gulf of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The payload will consist of lightning detectors, gamma-ray scintillators, and a mixture of passive and/or active microwave sensors. Supporting the flights will be a diverse groundbased network of lightning instruments spread across the region of interest.

Nikolai Ostgaard↗
NASA NTRS1991

Airborne precursor missions in support of SIR-C/X-SAR

The NASA DC-8 and DLR E-SAR airborne imaging radars have been deployed over several sites in Europe and the U.S. in support of SIR-C/X-SAR (Shuttle Imaging Radar-C/X-Synthetic Aperture Radar) science team investigations. To date, data have been acquired in support of studies of alpine glaciers, forests, geology, oceanography, and calibration. An experimental campaign with airborne sensors will take place in Europe in June to July 1991 which will allow multitemporal surveys of several Europeans sites. Current plans are for calibration and ecology experiments to be undertaken in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. Coordinated multitemporal aircraft and ground campaigns are planned in support of hydrology experiments in Italy, the United Kingdom, and Austria. Data will also be acquired in support of oceanogrqhy in the Gulf of Genova, North Atlantic, Straits of Messina and the North Sea. Geology sites will include Campi Flegrei and Vesuvio, Italy.

Evans, D.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Airborne Carbon Dioxide Laser Absorption Spectrometer for IPDA Measurements of Tropospheric CO2: Recent Results

The National Research Council's decadal survey on Earth Science and Applications from Space[1] recommended the Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission for launch in 2013-2016 as a logical follow-on to the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) which is scheduled for launch in late 2008 [2]. The use of a laser absorption measurement technique provides the required ability to make day and night measurements of CO2 over all latitudes and seasons. As a demonstrator for an approach to meeting the instrument needs for the ASCENDS mission we have developed the airborne Carbon Dioxide Laser Absorption Spectrometer (CO2LAS) which uses the Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) Spectrometer [3] technique operating in the 2 micron wavelength region.. During 2006 a short engineering checkout flight of the CO2LAS was conducted and the results presented previously [4]. Several short flight campaigns were conducted during 2007 and we report results from these campaigns.

lidar↗
NASA NTRS1988

NASA's future land remote sensing program

The NASA remote sensing plans for the Land Processes Program are reviewed in the context of the science driven programs in ecology, hydrology, and geology. The instrumental capabilities in place on airborne platforms, and those available on the Earth Observing System in the mid 1990s, are considered. Coordinated field experiments which are evolutionary from the First ISLSCP Field Experiment are discussed.

Murphy, R. E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Coherent Doppler Wind Lidar Suborbital and Orbital Activities at NASA Langley Research Center

NASA’s Langley Research Center recently completed development of the Aerosol Wind Profiler (AWP) suborbital coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) instrument. Developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office, Earth Science Division, and LaRC Science Directorate, the AWP project adapted the Wind-SP 2 µm transceiver for airborne use. AWP successfully completed demonstration and engineering test flights in January 2023. LaRC has been funded by a NOAA Joint Venture program Suborbital 3-D Wind Measurement Demonstration project to collect and provide AWP data. The first campaign collected > 50 hours of data during the October 2023 EcoDemonstrator campaign on the NASA DC-8, samples of which will be presented here. AWP implemented and demonstrated multiple technologies needed for a space CDWL transceiver, which have continued development towards miniaturization and ruggedization. A space-based CDWL study is being completed that leverages these recent developments, informing a vision for a relatively low-cost orbital CDWL mission that will also be introduced.

AWP↗
NASA NTRS2006

Compact, Engineered, 2-Micron Coherent Doppler Wind Lidar Prototype for Field and Airborne Validation: Doppler Aerosol WiNd Lidar (DAWN). Interim Review #1 (6 months)

A new project, selected in 2005 by NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), under the Instrument Incubator Program (IIP), will be described. The 3-year effort is intended to design, fabricate, and demonstrate a packaged, rugged, compact, space-qualifiable coherent Doppler wind lidar (DWL) transceiver capable of future validation in an aircraft and/or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The state-of-the-art 2-micron coherent DWL breadboard at NASA/LaRC will be engineered and compactly packaged consistent with future aircraft flights. The packaged transceiver will be integrated into a coherent DWL system test bed at LaRC. Atmospheric wind measurements will be made to validate the packaged technology. This will greatly advance the coherent part of the hybrid DWL solution to the need for global tropospheric wind measurements.

Kavaya, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Miniature Low-Noise G-Band I-Q Receiver

Weather forecasting, hurricane tracking, and atmospheric science applications depend on humidity sounding of atmosphere. Current instruments provide these measurements from groundbased, airborne, and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites by measuring radiometric temperature on the flanks of the 183-GHz water vapor line. Miniature, low-noise receivers have been designed that will enable these measurements from a geostationary, thinned array sounder, which is based on hundreds of low-noise receivers that convert the 180-GHz signal directly to baseband in-phase and in-quadrature signals for digitization and correlation. The developed receivers provide a noise temperature of 450 K from 165 to 183 GHz (NF = 4.1 dB), and have a mass of 3 g while consuming 24 mW of power. These are the most sensitive broadband I-Q receivers at this frequency range that operate at room temperature, and are significantly lower in mass and power consumption than previously reported receivers.

Kangaslahti, Pekka P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Miniature Unmanned Airborne Sunphotometer for Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (muSSTAR)

The miniature unmanned Airborne Sunphotometer for Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (muSSTAR) will provide a link between local aerosols in the boundary layer and the global measurements of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT). We describe a path towards a prototype small airborne sunphotometer hosted on an unmanned aerial system for enabling air-quality and climate science by profiling the lower atmospheric boundary layer over land and boundary layer in coastal environments. This project aims to miniaturize NASA Ames’ world-leading instrumentation for use on unmanned aerial vehicles.

aerosol↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Synergistic TEMPO Air Quality Science (STAQS)

In June-August 2023, STAQS seeks to integrate TEMPO satellite observations with traditional air quality monitoring to improve understanding of air quality science and increase societal benefit. Study philosophy: - Build an integrated observing system consisting of ground-, airborne-, and satellite-based platforms and air quality models. - Prioritize repeated systematic sampling in a predefined domain during morning, midday, and afternoon times over at least 4 days in each primary target areas. - Assemble a collaborative research team through leveraging multiple activities occurring in summer 2023 with federal and academic partners.

Laura Margaret Judd↗
NASA NTRS2011

UAVSAR Instrument: Current Operations and Planned Upgrades

The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) instrument is a pod-based Lband polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR), specifically designed to acquire airborne repeat track SAR data for differential interferometric measurements. This instrument is currently installed on the NASA Gulfstream- III (G-III) aircraft with precision real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) and a sensor-controlled flight management system for precision repeat-pass data acquisitions. UAVSAR has conducted engineering and preliminary science data flights since October 2007 on the G-III. We are porting the radar to the Global Hawk Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV) to enable long duration/long range data campaigns. We plan to install two radar pods (each with its own active array antenna) under the wings of the Global Hawk to enable the generation of precision topographic maps and single pass polarimetric-interferometry (SPI) providing vertical structure of ice and vegetation. Global Hawk's range of ~ 8000 nm will enable regional surveys with far fewer sorties as well as measurements of remote locations without the need for long and complicated deployments. We are also developing P-band polarimetry and Ka-band single-pass interferometry capabilities on UAVSAR by replacing the radar antenna and front-end electronics to operate at these

Uninhabited Airborne Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Ra↗
NASA NTRS2013

Atmospheric CO2 Column Measurements with an Airborne Intensity-Modulated Continuous-Wave 1.57-micron Fiber Laser Lidar

The 2007 National Research Council (NRC) Decadal Survey on Earth Science and Applications from Space recommended Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) as a mid-term, Tier II, NASA space mission. ITT Exelis, formerly ITT Corp., and NASA Langley Research Center have been working together since 2004 to develop and demonstrate a prototype Laser Absorption Spectrometer for making high-precision, column CO2 mixing ratio measurements needed for the ASCENDS mission. This instrument, called the Multifunctional Fiber Laser Lidar (MFLL), operates in an intensity-modulated, continuous-wave mode in the 1.57- micron CO2 absorption band. Flight experiments have been conducted with the MFLL on a Lear-25, UC-12, and DC-8 aircraft over a variety of different surfaces and under a wide range of atmospheric conditions. Very high-precision CO2 column measurements resulting from high signal-to-noise (great than 1300) column optical depth measurements for a 10-s (approximately 1 km) averaging interval have been achieved. In situ measurements of atmospheric CO2 profiles were used to derive the expected CO2 column values, and when compared to the MFLL measurements over desert and vegetated surfaces, the MFLL measurements were found to agree with the in situ-derived CO2 columns to within an average of 0.17% or approximately 0.65 ppmv with a standard deviation of 0.44% or approximately 1.7 ppmv. Initial results demonstrating ranging capability using a swept modulation technique are also presented.

Dobler, Jeremy T.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

How Discipline-Oriented DAACs Collaborate to Support Interdisciplinary Earth Science

The Earth system is made of multiple complex subsystems. While scientists tend to specialize in single subsystems or even portions of a subsystem, to fully understand the physical, chemical and biological processes occurring on the Earth, we must understand how these systems interact. Thus, scientists need to be able to expand beyond their chosen field and collaborate across disciplines. The NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is focusing on new capabilities to make interdisciplinary science easier. The EOSDIS DAACS are responsible for archiving and distributing NASA’s rapidly growing collection of satellite, airborne and field data. Like the scientists they serve, the DAACs are discipline oriented. This has many advantages. Scientists are able to interact with experts on data in their domain and receive data appropriate for their research. However, discipline-oriented services may be confusing to cross-disciplinary users who may not know how to get started. Fortunately, collaboration across scientific communities is a specialty of the DAACs who support interdisciplinary users with a collaborative culture and technology that empowers the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and the wider public to accelerate scientific research and understanding. This presentation will discuss the capabilities of a discipline-oriented approach to support future Earth science goals including those of Open Science and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Sara Lubkin↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ICARTT File Format Enhancements: Supporting FAIRness and Data Discovery of Suborbital Campaign Data

Suborbital campaigns aim to accomplish a wide variety of goals and can include a variety of platforms, instruments, and parameters measured. In 2004, the ICARTT (International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation) standards were developed to fulfill data management needs for the ICARTT campaign. The ICARTT file format is text-based and composed of a header with important data description information and the data section. Built on the NASA Ames and GTE data formats, the ICARTT format was created to facilitate data exchange and promote collaborations among the science teams for achieving the ICARTT campaign goals. Due to its success and adaptation for use in many other field campaigns, the ICARTT file format became a NASA standard in 2010 and was amended in January 2017. These changes provided many enhancements, including the requirement for variable standard names. Primarily designed for airborne field studies, ICARTT has been further utilized for ground-based studies. NASA has made a commitment to build an inclusive open science community over the next decade. Open-source science strives to make publicly funded scientific research transparent, inclusive, accessible, and reproducible. The ICARTT format can host metadata that is critical for proper use of the data, particularly for in-situ measurements, and can enhance data discovery and accessibility. However, the required fields are often free text, meaning that the information is human readable, but not machine interpretable. Furthermore, the amount and type of information provided can vary significantly between principal investigators and campaigns. To support FAIR principles and interoperability, enhancements to the ICARTT standards are recommended. Possible recommendations include potential use of controlled and consistent vocabulary for variable standard name and certain common metadata elements; standardizing timestamps for easier data comparisons and analysis; and providing guidance on variable measurement units and how they are reported. Enhancing ICARTT metadata can further streamline the process to make suborbital data more readily available to the data user and improve variable-level metadata. Providing more variable-level metadata can enhance data searching and discovery, supporting NASA’s Open-Source Science Initiative (OSSI).

Megan Buzanowicz↗
NASA NTRS1998

F100 Engine Emissions Tested in NASA Lewis' Propulsion Systems Laboratory

Recent advances in atmospheric sciences have shown that the chemical composition of the entire atmosphere of the planet (gases and airborne particles) has been changed due to human activity and that these changes have changed the heat balance of the planet. National Research Council findings indicate that anthropogenic aerosols1 reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface. Atmospheric global models suggest that sulfate aerosols change the energy balance of the Northern Hemisphere as much as anthropogenic greenhouse gases have. In response to these findings, NASA initiated the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project (AEAP) to advance the research needed to define present and future aircraft emissions and their effects on the Earth's atmosphere. Although the importance of aerosols and their precursors is now well recognized, the characterization of current subsonic engines for these emissions is far from complete. Furthermore, since the relationship of engine operating parameters to aerosol emissions is not known, extrapolation to untested and unbuilt engines necessarily remains highly uncertain. Tests in 1997-an engine test at the NASA Lewis Research Center and the corresponding flight measurement test at the NASA Langley Research Center-attempted to address both issues by measuring emissions when fuels containing different levels of sulfur were burned. Measurement systems from four research groups were involved in the Lewis engine test: A Lewis gas analyzer suite to measure the concentration of gaseous species 1. including NO, NOx, CO, CO2, O2, THC, and SO2 as well as the smoke number; 2. A University of Missouri-Rolla Mobile Aerosol Sampling System to measure aerosol and particulate properties including the total concentration, size distribution, volatility, and hydration property; 3. An Air Force Research Laboratory Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer to measure the concentration of SO2 and SO3/H2SO4; and 4. An Aerodyne Research Inc. Tunable Diode Laser System to measure the concentrations of SO2, SO3, NO, NO2, CO2, and H2O. By September 1997, an F100 engine operating at several power levels at sea level and up to six simulated altitudes had been tested with commercial jet fuels with three levels of sulfur content and one military jet fuel. The data are being vigorously analyzed. A complete report is anticipated for the 1998 Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project Annual Conference.

Wey, Chowen C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

(abstract) Mount Rainier: New Remote Sensing Observations of a Decade Volcano

Mount Rainier was selected as a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. The purpose of this selection is to focus scientific and public attention on Mount Rainier during the current decade, the United Nations-designated International Decade of Natural Hazard Reduction. The Mount Rainier science plan calls for remote sensing surveys to monitor the volcano. To date, we have conducted airborne surveys with visible and near-infrared, thermal infrared, and interferometric radar instruments. Our preliminary analysis of some night-time time-series thermal infrared survey data sets of the summit suggests that, aside from seasonal variations in snow cover, there have been no qualitative changes in the size or pattern of the summit hot spots. Day-time airborne surveys were done to record the current surface appearance of the volcano and map hydrothermal alteration in the summit region. An interferometric radar survey yielded a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) which serves as a base for the registration of the other remote sensing data sets. More importantly, the DEM documents the current topography of glaciers and valleys. Planned biannual radar survey of mount rainier will produce a data set from which seasonal changes in glacier and valley topography can be characterized. Such characterization is essential if we are to recognize geothermally induced changes in snow and ice cover.

infrared radar interferometry glaciers seasonal va↗
NASA NTRS2012

Pulsed Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption in the ASCENDS 2011 Airborne Campaign

We have previously demonstrated an efficient pulsed, wavelength-resolved IPDA lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission. Our team participated in the 2010 ASCENDS airborne campaigns we flew airborne version of the CO2 and O2 lidar on the NASA DC-8. The CO2 lidar measures the atmospheric backscatter profiles and shape of the 1572.33 nm absorption line using 250 mW average laser power, 30 wavelength samples per scan and 300 scans per second. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps to greater than 12 km, and clear CO2 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Our post-flight analysis estimated the Iidar range and pulse energies at each wavelength every second. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the Differential Optical Depth (DOD) at the line peak. We compared these to CO2 DODs calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the conditions from airborne in-situ readings. Analysis of the 2010 measurements over the Pacific Ocean and Lamont OK shows the expected -linear change of the peak DOD with altitude. For measurements at altitudes greater than 6 km the random errors were approximately 0.3 ppm for 80 sec averaging times. After the 2010 flights we improved the airborne lidar's scan uniformity, calibration and receiver sensitivity. Our team participated in the seven ASCENDS science flights during late July and August 2011. These flights were made over a wide variety of surface and cloud conditions near the US, including over the central valley of California, over several mountain ranges, over both broken and solid stratus cloud deck over the Pacific Ocean, snow patches on mountain tops, over thin and broken clouds above the US Southwest and Iowa, and over forests near the WLEF tower in Wisconsin. Analyses show the retrievals of lidar range and CO2 column absorption, as wen as estimates of CO2 mixing ratio worked well when measuring over topography with rapidly changing height and reflectivity, through thin clouds and to stratus cloud tops. For regions where the CO2 concentration was relatively constant, the measured CO2 absorption profile (averaged for 50 sec) matched the predicted profile to better than 1% RMS error for all flight altitudes. For 1 & 10 second averaging, the scatter in the retrievals was limited by signal shot noise (i.e. the sigual photon count). Analysis to date shows the decrease in CO2 due to vegetation when flying easterward over the Great Plains as well as the increase in CO2 concentration in the vicinity ofthe coal-fired power plant in New Mexico. Examples of these and other results will be presented.

Abshire, James B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Observations of Aerosol-Radiation-Cloud Interactions in the South-East Atlantic: First Results from the ORACLES Deployments in 2016 and 2017

Southern Africa produces almost a third of the Earths biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles. Particles lofted into the mid-troposphere are transported westward over the South-East (SE) Atlantic, home to one of the three permanent subtropical stratocumulus (Sc) cloud decks in the world. The SE Atlantic stratocumulus deck interacts with the dense layers of BB aerosols that initially overlay the cloud deck, but later subside and often mix into the clouds. These interactions include adjustments to aerosol-induced solar heating and microphysical effects, and their global representation in climate models remains one of the largest uncertainties in estimates of future climate. Hence, new observations over the SE Atlantic have significant implications for regional and global climate change predictions.The low-level clouds in the SE Atlantic have limited vertical extent and therefore present favorable conditions for their exploration with remote sensing. On the other hand, the normal coexistence of BB aerosols and Sc clouds in the same scene also presents significant challenges to conventional remote sensing techniques. We describe first results from NASAs airborne ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols Above Clouds and Their IntEractionS) deployments in September 2016 and August 2017. We emphasize the unique role of polarimetric observations by two instruments, the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) and the Airborne Multi-angle SpectroPolarimeter Imager (AirMSPI), and describe how these instruments help address specific ORACLES science objectives. Initial assessments of polarimetric observation accuracy for key cloud and aerosol properties will be presented, in as far as the preliminary nature of measurements permits.

Redemann, Jens↗