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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 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Determining a bends-preventing pressure for a space suit

Research conducted to determine the proper pressure for preventing bends during EVA without preoxygenation is examined. Male and female subjects with different breathing gas mixtures and pressures are studied in order to define the pressure. Visual and auditory Doppler ultrasonic signals are utilized to monitor intravascular gas bubbles. The workload, which simulates EVA, consists of a handturned bicycle ergometer, a torque wrench operation, and a rope pull. The experimental data reveal that the minimum space suit pressure needed to prevent decompression sickness is 9.5 psi.

Krutz, R. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Molten (Mg0.88Fe0.12)2SiO4 at lower mantle conditions - Melting products and structure of quenched glasses

Infrared spectra of quenched magnesium silicate glasses synthesized by fusing olivine at pressures in excess of 50 GPa and temperatures greater than 2500 K demonstrate that silicon is dominantly present in four-fold coordination with respect to oxygen within these quenched glasses. This low coordination is attributed, by analogy with the structural behavior of glasses compressed at 300 K, to the instability of higher coordinations in glasses of these compositions on decompression. Spectra of glasses formed in a hydrous environment document that water is extensively soluble in melts at these high pressures and temperatures. Also, these results are consistent with the melting of (Mg0.88Fe0.12)2SiO4 compositions to liquids near pyroxene in stoichiometry under these conditions, with iron-rich magnesiowuestite being the liquidus phase.

Williams, Quentin↗
NASA NTRS1990

Static compression of Ca(OH)2 at room temperature - Observations of amorphization and equation of state measurements to 10.7 GPa

X-ray diffraction measurements are reported for Ca(OH)2 portlandite as it is compressed to 37.6 GPa in the diamond cell at room temperature. Between 10.7 and 15.4 GPa crystalline Ca(OH)2 transforms to a glass, and on decompression the glass recrystallizes between 3.6 and 5.1 GPa. Below pressures of 10.7 GPa the elastic compression of crystalline Ca(OH)2 was measured. A finite strain analysis of these data shows that the isothermal bulk modulus and its pressure derivative are 37.8 + or - 1.8 GPa and 5.2 + or - 0.7 at zero pressure. The change in the unit cell dimensions indicates that the linear incompressibilities of Ca(OH)2 differ by a factor of three.

Meade, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1990

Digital data registration and differencing compression system

A process is disclosed for x ray registration and differencing which results in more efficient compression. Differencing of registered modeled subject image with a modeled reference image forms a differenced image for compression with conventional compression algorithms. Obtention of a modeled reference image includes modeling a relatively unrelated standard reference image upon a three-dimensional model, which three-dimensional model is also used to model the subject image for obtaining the modeled subject image. The registration process of the modeled subject image and modeled reference image translationally correlates such modeled images for resulting correlation thereof in spatial and spectral dimensions. Prior to compression, a portion of the image falling outside a designated area of interest may be eliminated, for subsequent replenishment with a standard reference image. The compressed differenced image may be subsequently transmitted and/or stored, for subsequent decompression and addition to a standard reference image so as to form a reconstituted or approximated subject image at either a remote location and/or at a later moment in time. Overall effective compression ratios of 100:1 are possible for thoracic x ray digital images.

Ransford, Gary A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A kinematic model for the late Cenozoic development of southern California crust and upper mantle

A model is developed for the young and ongoing kinematic deformation of the southern California crust and upper mantle. The kinematic model qualitatively explains both the overall seismic structure of the upper mantle and much of the known geological history of the late Cenozoic as consequences of ongoing convection beneath southern California. In this model, the high-velocity upper-mantle anomaly of the Transverse ranges is created through the convergence and sinking of the entire thickness of subcrustal lihtosphere, and the low-velocity upper-mantle anomaly beneath the Salton Trough region is attributed to high temperatures and 1-4 percent partial melt related to adiabatic decompression during mantle upwelling.

Humphreys, Eugene D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Algorithms For Compression Of Polarimetric-Radar Image Data

Two sets of algorithms provide moderate improvements in compression and decompression of scattering-matrix data from polarimetric imaging radar system. Algorithms operate on original single-look scattering matrices, do not symmetrize scattering matrices and, preserve asymmetrical data on background-noise and equipment effects.

Van Zyl, Jakob J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Melt droplet formation in energetic impacts

Impacts between rocky bodies at velocities exceeding about 15 km/sec are capable of melting or vaporizing both the impacting object and a portion of the target. Geological materials initially shocked to high pressure approach the liquid-vapor phase boundary from the liquid side as they decompress, breaking up into an expanding spray of liquid droplets. A simple theory is presented for estimating the sizes of these droplets as a function of impactor size and velocity. It is shown that these sizes are consistent with observations of microtektites and spherules found in the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary layer, the Acraman impact structure, Archean beds in South Africa and lunar regolith. The model may also apply to the formation of chondrules.

Vickery, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Improving survival after tissue vaporization (Ebullism)

Exposure of unprotected humans to altitudes above 63,000 ft results in ebullism. Ebullism occurs when the vapor pressure of tissues is less than the ambient pressure and the tissues spontaneously 'boil'. This may result in rapid unconsciousness, cardiac vaporlock, pulmonary collapse, cerebral anoxia, and sometimes even death. Potential places for this include EVA accidents in space, aircraft experiencing rapid decompression at high altitudes with cabin or pressure suit failure, and accidents during pressure suit training exercises. The pathophysiology of ebullism was studied in the 40's to 60's using animal models. There is one report of a prolonged, unprotected human exposure and several anecdotal of unprotected short term exposures to near vacuum. In addition to pulmonary and neurologic concerns, unprotected exposure of the head may result in freezing of the corneal surface of the eye. Surface eye freezing may impair vision and significantly impact mission completion. At this time, little data are available on the effectiveness of conventional treatment protocols, such as hyperbaric oxygen, for ebullism induced injuries. Research is needed to assess the efficacy of other adjunctive therapies such as high frequency ventilation and cerebral protective drugs that are still under development.

Stegmann, Barbara J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Digital data registration and differencing compression system

A process for x ray registration and differencing results in more efficient compression is discussed. Differencing of registered modeled subject image with a modeled reference image forms a differential image for compression with conventional compression algorithms. Obtention of a modeled reference image includes modeling a relatively unrelated standard reference image upon a three dimensional model, which three dimensional model is also used to model the subject image for obtaining the modeled subject image. The registration process of the modeled subject image and modeled reference image translationally correlates such modeled images for resulting correlation thereof in spatial and spectral dimensions. Prior to compression, a portion of the image falling outside a designated area of interest may be eliminated, for subsequent replenishment with a standard reference image. The compressed differenced image may be subsequently transmitted and/or stored, for subsequent decompression and addition to a standard reference image so as to form a reconstituted or approximated subject image at either remote location and/or at a later moment in time. Overall effective compression ratios of 100:1 are possible for thoracic x ray digital images.

Ransford, Gary A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Hollow fiber clinostat for simulating microgravity in cell culture

A clinostat for simulating microgravity on cell systems carried in a fiber fixedly mounted in a rotatable culture vessel is disclosed. The clinostat is rotated horizontally along its longitudinal axis to simulate microgravity or vertically as a control response. Cells are injected into the fiber and the ends of the fiber are sealed and secured to spaced end pieces of a fiber holder assembly which consists of the end pieces, a hollow fiber, a culture vessel, and a tension spring with three alignment pins. The tension spring is positioned around the culture vessel with its ends abutting the end pieces for alignment of the spring. After the fiber is secured, the spring is decompressed to maintain tension on the fiber while it is being rotated. This assures that the fiber remains aligned along the axis of rotation. The fiber assembly is placed in the culture vessel and culture medium is added. The culture vessel is then inserted into the rotatable portion of the clinostat and subjected to rotate at selected rpms. The internal diameter of the hollow fiber determines the distance the cells are from the axis of rotation.

Rhodes, Percy H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Assessment of surface penetration with polarimetric radar

An airborne P-, L-, and C-band polarimetric radar dataset acquired over the Atchafalaya Bay study site was used to assess its surface penetration capabilities. The dataset was decompressed and reformatted to form a three-wavelength and three-polarization nine-channel dataset. All nine channels were filtered for speckle noise removal, using the 7-by-7 local-statistics moving-window filtering. Significant smoothing of data was obtained so that the data can be classified using the SRCH and M234 ELAS programs. Preliminary assessment of the PLC images indicated that the radar waves penetrated muddy water. Therefore the radar can measure the water depth and can be used to map the submerged sediments. A statistical analysis of the digital data provided insight on the depth of muddy water penetration.

Wu, Shih-Tseng↗
NASA NTRS1992

Validation of a dual-cycle ergometer for exercise during 100 percent oxygen prebreathing

A study has been designed to determine if exercise, while prebreathing 100 percent oxygen prior to decompression, can reduce the current resting-prebreathe time requirements for extravehicular activity and high altitude reconnaissance flight. For that study, a suitable exercise mode was required. Design considerations included space limitations, cost, pressure suit compatibility, ease and maintenance of calibration, accuracy of work output, and assurance that no significant mechanical advantage or disadvantage would be introduced into the system. In addition, the exercise device must enhance denitrogenation by incorporation of both upper and lower body musculature at high levels of oxygen consumption. The purpose of this paper is to describe the specially constructed, dual-cycle ergometer developed for simultaneous arm and leg exercise during prebreathing, and to compare maximal oxygen uptake obtained on the device to that obtained during leg-only cycle ergometry and treadmill testing. Results demonstrate the suitability of the dual-cycle ergometer as an appropriate tool for exercise research during 100 percent oxygen prebreathing.

Wiegman, Janet F.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Features on Venus generated by plate boundary processes

Various observations suggest that there are processes on Venus that produce features similar to those associated with plate boundaries on earth. Synthetic aperture radar images of Venus, taken with a radar whose wavelength is 12.6 cm, are compared with GLORIA images of active plate boundaries, obtained with a sound source whose wavelength is 23 cm. Features similar to transform faults and to abyssal hills on slow and fast spreading ridges can be recognized within the Artemis region of Venus but are not clearly visible elsewhere. The composition of the basalts measured by the Venera 13 and 14 and the Vega 2 spacecraft corresponds to that expected from adiabatic decompression, like that which occurs beneath spreading ridges on earth. Structures that resemble trenches are widespread on Venus and show the same curvature and asymmetry as they do on earth. These observations suggest that the same simple geophysical models that have been so successfully used to understand the tectonics of earth can also be applied to Venus.

Mckenzie, Dan↗
NASA NTRS1993

Methods of evaluating the effects of coding on SAR data

It is recognized that mean square error (MSE) is not a sufficient criterion for determining the acceptability of an image reconstructed from data that has been compressed and decompressed using an encoding algorithm. In the case of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, it is also deemed to be insufficient to display the reconstructed image (and perhaps error image) alongside the original and make a (subjective) judgment as to the quality of the reconstructed data. In this paper we suggest a number of additional evaluation criteria which we feel should be included as evaluation metrics in SAR data encoding experiments. These criteria have been specifically chosen to provide a means of ensuring that the important information in the SAR data is preserved. The paper also presents the results of an investigation into the effects of coding on SAR data fidelity when the coding is applied in (1) the signal data domain, and (2) the image domain. An analysis of the results highlights the shortcomings of the MSE criterion, and shows which of the suggested additional criterion have been found to be most important.

Dutkiewicz, Melanie↗
NASA NTRS1993

High-performance compression of astronomical images

Astronomical images have some rather unusual characteristics that make many existing image compression techniques either ineffective or inapplicable. A typical image consists of a nearly flat background sprinkled with point sources and occasional extended sources. The images are often noisy, so that lossless compression does not work very well; furthermore, the images are usually subjected to stringent quantitative analysis, so any lossy compression method must be proven not to discard useful information, but must instead discard only the noise. Finally, the images can be extremely large. For example, the Space Telescope Science Institute has digitized photographic plates covering the entire sky, generating 1500 images each having 14000 x 14000 16-bit pixels. Several astronomical groups are now constructing cameras with mosaics of large CCD's (each 2048 x 2048 or larger); these instruments will be used in projects that generate data at a rate exceeding 100 MBytes every 5 minutes for many years. An effective technique for image compression may be based on the H-transform (Fritze et al. 1977). The method that we have developed can be used for either lossless or lossy compression. The digitized sky survey images can be compressed by at least a factor of 10 with no noticeable losses in the astrometric and photometric properties of the compressed images. The method has been designed to be computationally efficient: compression or decompression of a 512 x 512 image requires only 4 seconds on a Sun SPARCstation 1. The algorithm uses only integer arithmetic, so it is completely reversible in its lossless mode, and it could easily be implemented in hardware for space applications.

White, Richard L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Dissemination and fractionation of projectile materials in the impact melts from Wabar Crater, Saudi Arabia

Results are presented from the analyses of small ballistically dispersed melt samples (occurring in the form of aerodynamically shaped spheres, dumbbells, and teardrops) from the Wabar Crater (Saudi Arabia) and of melts from the Wabar and Nejed meteorites. On the basis of the data obtained and of models for crater forming processes it is concluded that the ballistically-dispersed glasses were formed from material at shallow levels in the target zone where temperatures were higher and where intimate physical contact with the disrupting impactor was achieved. Siderophile element fractionation was completed early, while the impactor was undergoing decompression and prior to mixing with the target glasses.

Mittlefehldt, David W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Neurology of microgravity and space travel

Exposure to microgravity and space travel produce several neurologic changes, including SAS, ataxia, postural disturbances, perceptual illusions, neuromuscular weakness, and fatigue. Inflight SAS, perceptual illusions, and ocular changes are of more importance. After landing, however, ataxia, perceptual illusions, neuromuscular weakness, and fatigue play greater roles in astronaut health and readaptation to a terrestrial environment. Cardiovascular adjustments to microgravity, bone demineralization, and possible decompression sickness and excessive radiation exposure contribute further to medical problems of astronauts in space. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which microgravity adversely affects the nervous system and more effective treatments will provide healthier, happier, and longer stays in space on the space station Freedom and during the mission to Mars.

Fujii, M. D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Explosive volcanism and associated pressures - Implications for models of endogenically shocked quartz

The nature of explosive volcanic phenomena and associated pressures, both from field and theoretical perspectives, is discussed. An endogenic origin for shocked quartz at the K/T boundary requires impulsive pressures greater than 60 kbars to be generated during explosive volcanism. Explosive volcanic eruptions which are events of sustained decompression may be initiated by impulsive explosions while the magnitudes of the overpressures are small. These maximum overpressures can be controlled mainly by the tensile strength of the rock surrounding the magma chamber-conduit system. Thus maximum overpressures in the volcanic environment are limited to less than 500 bars which are orders of magnitude less than those required for shock quartz (greater than 60 kbars). This observation is found to be consistent with the complete lack of field or petrographic evidence in support of shock metamorphism associated with volcanic eruptions and their products.

De Silva, S. L.↗