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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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NASA NTRS2014

Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) Quarterly Report Fourth Quarter FY-14

Ms. Crawford completed the final report for the dual-Doppler wind field task. Dr. Bauman completed transitioning the 915-MHz and 50-MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (DRWP) splicing algorithm developed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) into the AMU Upper Winds Tool. Dr. Watson completed work to assimilate data into model configurations for Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) and Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (KSC/CCAFS). Ms. Shafer began evaluating the a local high-resolution model she had set up previously for its ability to forecast weather elements that affect launches at KSC/CCAFS. Dr. Watson began a task to optimize the data-assimilated model she just developed to run in real time.

Applied Meteorology Unit↗
NASA NTRS2015

Real-Time Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station High-Resolution Model Implementation and Verification

Customer: NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP), Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO), and Space Launch System (SLS) programs. NASA's LSP, GSDO, SLS and other programs at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) use the daily and weekly weather forecasts issued by the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) as decision tools for their day-to-day and launch operations on the Eastern Range (ER). For example, to determine if they need to limit activities such as vehicle transport to the launch pad, protect people, structures or exposed launch vehicles given a threat of severe weather, or reschedule other critical operations. The 45 WS uses numerical weather prediction models as a guide for these weather forecasts, particularly the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) 1.67 kilometer Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Considering the 45 WS forecasters' and Launch Weather Officers' (LWO) extensive use of the AFWA model, the 45 WS proposed a task at the September 2013 Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) Tasking Meeting requesting the AMU verify this model. Due to the lack of archived model data available from AFWA, verification is not yet possible. Instead, the AMU proposed to implement and verify the performance of an ER version of the AMU high-resolution WRF Environmental Modeling System (EMS) model (Watson 2013) in real-time. The tasking group agreed to this proposal; therefore the AMU implemented the WRF-EMS model on the second of two NASA AMU modeling clusters. The model was set up with a triple-nested grid configuration over KSC/CCAFS based on previous AMU work (Watson 2013). The outer domain (D01) has 12-kilometer grid spacing, the middle domain (D02) has 4-kilometer grid spacing, and the inner domain (D03) has 1.33-kilometer grid spacing. The model runs a 12-hour forecast every hour, D01 and D02 domain outputs are available once an hour and D03 is every 15 minutes during the forecast period. The AMU assessed the WRF-EMS 1.33-kilometer domain model performance for the 2014 warm season (May-September). Verification statistics were computed using the Model Evaluation Tools, which compared the model forecasts to observations. The mean error values were close to 0 and the root mean square error values were less than 1.8 for mean sea-level pressure (millibars), temperature (degrees Kelvin), dewpoint temperature (degrees Kelvin), and wind speed (per millisecond), all very small differences between the forecast and observations considering the normal magnitudes of the parameters. The precipitation forecast verification results showed consistent under-forecasting of the precipitation object size. This could be an artifact of calculating the statistics for each hour rather than for the entire 12-hour period. The AMU will continue to generate verification statistics for the 1.33-kilometer WRF-EMS domain as data become available in future cool and warm seasons. More data will produce more robust statistics and reveal a more accurate assessment of model performance. Once the formal task was complete, the AMU conducted additional work to better understand the wind direction results. The results were stratified diurnally and by wind speed to determine what effects the stratifications would have on the model wind direction verification statistics. The results are summarized in the addendum at the end of this report. In addition to verifying the model's performance, the AMU also made the output available in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System II (AWIPS II). This allows the 45 WS and AMU staff to customize the model output display on the AMU and Range Weather Operations AWIPS II client computers and conduct real-time subjective analyses. In the future, the AMU will implement an updated version of the WRF-EMS model that incorporates local data assimilation. This model will also run in real-time and be made available in AWIPS II.

Numerical Weather Prediction↗
NASA NTRS1982

Regression methods for spatial data

The kriging approach, a parametric regression method used by hydrologists and mining engineers, among others also provides an error estimate the integral of the regression function. The kriging method is explored and some of its statistical characteristics are described. The Watson method and theory are extended so that the kriging features are displayed. Theoretical and computational comparisons of the kriging and Watson approaches are offered.

Yakowitz, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

In-phase and out-of-phase axial-torsional fatigue behavior of Haynes 188 at 760 C

Isothermal, in-phase and out-of-phase axial-torsional fatigue experiments have been conducted at 760 C on uniform gage section, thin-walled tubular specimens of a wrought cobalt-base superalloy, Haynes 188. Test-control and data acquisition were accomplished with a minicomputer. Fatigue lives of the in- and out-of-phase axial-torsional fatigue tests have been estimated with four different multiaxial fatigue life prediction models that were developed primarly for predicting axial-torsional fatigue lives at room temperature. The models investigated were: (1) the von Mises equivalent strain range; (2) the Modified Multiaxiality Factor Approach; (3) the Modified Smith-Watson-Topper Parameter; and (4) the critical shear plane method of Fatemi, Socie, and Kurath. In general, life predictions by the von Mises equivalent strain range model were within a factor of 2 for a majority of the tests and the predictions by the Modified Multiaxiality Factor Approach were within a factor of 2, while predictions of the Modified Smith-Watson-Topper Parameter and of the critical shear plane method of Fatemi, Socie, and Kurath were unconservative and conservative, respectively, by up to factors of 4. In some of the specimens tested under combined axial-torsional loading conditions, fatigue cracks initiated near extensometer indentations. Two design modifications have been proposed to the thin-walled tubular specimen to overcome this problem.

Kalluri, Sreeramesh↗
NASA NTRS1992

Domain-specific functional software testing: A progress report

Software Engineering is a knowledge intensive activity that involves defining, designing, developing, and maintaining software systems. In order to build effective systems to support Software Engineering activities, Artificial Intelligence techniques are needed. The application of Artificial Intelligence technology to Software Engineering is called Knowledge-based Software Engineering (KBSE). The goal of KBSE is to change the software life cycle such that software maintenance and evolution occur by modifying the specifications and then rederiving the implementation rather than by directly modifying the implementation. The use of domain knowledge in developing KBSE systems is crucial. Our work is mainly related to one area of KBSE that is called automatic specification acquisition. One example is the WATSON prototype on which our current work is based. WATSON is an automatic programming system for formalizing specifications for telephone switching software mainly restricted to POTS, i.e., plain old telephone service. Our current approach differentiates itself from other approaches in two antagonistic ways. On the one hand, we address a large and complex real-world problem instead of a 'toy domain' as in many research prototypes. On the other hand, to allow such scaling, we had to relax the ambitious goal of complete automatic programming, to the easier task of automatic testing.

Nonnenmann, Uwe↗
NASA NTRS2000

Fatigue Characterization of Alloy 10: a 1300F Disk Alloy for Small Gas Turbine Engines

A detailed fatigue characterization of Alloy 10, a high strength nickel-based disk alloy, was conducted on test coupons machined from a 'pancake' forging. Smooth bar, strain controlled fatigue testing at various R-ratios was run at representative bore, 750 F, and rim, 1300 F, temperatures. This was followed by notch fatigue testing (Kt=2) run under load control. Analysis of the fatigue data using a Smith-Watson-Topper approach and finite element analysis of the notch root was employed to understand material behavior in these tests. Smooth bar fatigue data showed a significant R-ratio dependence at either test temperature which could be accounted for using a Smith-Watson-Topper parameter (SWT). In general, fatigue life was longer at 750 F than 1300 F for a given SWT. For notch fatigue tests, life was longer at 750 F than 1300 F but only at higher stresses. This was attributed to differences in alloy strength. At lower stresses, finite element analysis suggested that convergence of fatigue life at both temperatures resulted from relaxation of stresses at the notch root in the 1300 F tests.

Gayda, John↗
NASA NTRS2001

Pentopyranosyl Oligonucleotide Systems

To determine whether the remarkable chemical properties of the pyranosyl isomer of RNA as an informational Watson-Crick base-pairing system are unique to the pentopyranosyl-(4 + 2)-oligonucleotide isomer derived from the RNA-building block D-ribose, studies on the entire family of diastereoisomeric pyranosyL(4 - Z)-oligonucleotide systems deriving from D-ribose. L-lyxose. D-xylose, and L-arabinose were carried out. The result of these extended studies is unambiguous: not only pyranosyl-RNA, but all members of the pentopyranosyl(4 + 2)-oligonucleotide family are highly efficient Watson-Crick base-pairing systems. Their synthesis and pairing properties will be described in a series of publications in this journal.

Reck, Folkert↗
NASA NTRS1995

Insights to primitive replication derived from structures of small oligonucleotides

Available information on the structure of small oligonucleotides is surveyed. It is observed that even small oligomers typically exhibit defined structures over a wide range of pH and temperature. These structures rely on a plethora of non-standard base-base interactions in addition to the traditional Watson-Crick pairings. Stable duplexes, though typically antiparallel, can be parallel or staggered and perfect complementarity is not essential. These results imply that primitive template directed reactions do not require high fidelity. Hence, the extensive use of Watson-Crick complementarity in genes rather than being a direct consequence of the primitive condensation process, may instead reflect subsequent selection based on the advantage of accuracy in maintaining the primitive genetic machinery once it arose.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2011

Structure of 2,4-Diaminopyrimidine - Theobromine Alternate Base Pairs

We report the structure of clusters of 2,4-diaminopyrimidine with 3,7-dimethylxanthine (theobromine) in the gas phase determined by IR-UV double resonance spectroscopy in both the near-IR and mid-IR regions in combination with ab initio computations. These clusters represent potential alternate nucleobase pairs, geometrically equivalent to guanine-cytosine. We have found the four lowest energy structures, which include the Watson-Crick base pairing motif. This Watson-Crick structure has not been observed by resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) in the gas phase for the canonical DNA base pairs.

Gengeliczki, Zsolt↗
NASA NTRS2018

Using Knowledge Analytics to Search and Characterize Mass Properties Aerospace Data

There is growing capability in the field of “Big Data” and “Data Analytics” which Mass Properties Engineers might like to take advantage of. This paper utilizes an implementation of the IBM Knowledge Analytics and Watson search capabilities to explore a corpus of material developed primarily with the interests of Mass Properties Engineers and vehicle concept developers at its forefront. The full collection of SAWE (Society of Allied Weight Engineers, Inc.) Technical Papers from 1939 through 2015 is a major portion of the knowledge content. Additional aerospace vehicle design information includes metadata from AIAA (American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics), and INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) as well as author-provided personal search material. This data is processed with respect to certain expected content, data taxonomies and key words to become the core data in NASA Langley Research Center’s “Vehicle Analysis Analytics”, IBM Watson Content. Processed data becomes the corpus of information which is interrogated to provide examples of finding data for mass regression analysis, technology impacts on MPE (Mass Properties Engineering), mass properties control, standards, and other aspects of interest.

Cerro, Jeffrey A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Overview of SHERLOC Raman and Fluorescence Spectroscopy Results Obtained During Perseverance’s Green Zone Campaign at Jezero Crater, Mars

The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater, Mars, in February 2021. The field site was chosen because orbiter data provided evidence that the crater hosted an ancient (>2.7 Ga) fluvio-lacustrine environment. The Octavia E. Butler landing site is located ~1.9 km east of the erosional remnant of the Jezero river delta. Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) is an arm-mounted instrument that combines fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy with microscopic imaging to analyze geological materials in order to better understand the history of the environments recorded in the rocks within Jezero crater and to search for potential biosignatures. SHERLOC has two microscopic cameras, the Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI) and the Wide-Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering, (WATSON). These subsystems obtain high spatial resolution (10.1–100 µm/pixel) images to identify grain-scale structure and texture. SHERLOC spectroscopy enables high-sensitivity detection, characterization, and spatially-resolved correlation of trace organic materials. SHERLOC’s 248.6 nm deep UV laser generates a 100 µm-diameter spot. Photons generated by Raman scattering and fluorescence emission are collected and the spectra are downlinked to Earth for analysis. Knowledge of where the laser is pointed allows for mineral and compositional maps to be generated and overlain in ACI and WATSON images. Early spectroscopy observations focused on natural rock surfaces at targets named Nataani (sol 83), Bi_la_sana (sol 98) and Foux (sol 141). These surfaces included patches of aeolian dust that had settled upon the rocks. Perseverance’s abrasion tool is expected to become available in August 2021; it will grind to depths of 14 mm to remove dust and penetrate coatings and weathering rinds. This presentation will summarize major results from analysis of the rocks examined by SHERLOC during Perseverance’s first science and sample coring campaign (Green Zone Campaign).

Luther W Beegle↗
NASA NTRS1972

The BMW analytic aerodynamic drag method for the Vinti satellite theory

In order to retain separability in the Vinti theory of earth satellite motion when a non conservative force such as air drag is considered, a set of variational equations for the orbital elements are introduced, and expressed as functions of the transverse, radial, and normal components of the nonconservative forces acting on the system. In particular, the atmospheric density profile is written as a fitted exponential function of the eccentric anomaly, which reproduces tabular values of static model atmospheric densities at all altitudes to within ninety-eight percent and simultaneously reduces the variational equations to indefinite integrals with closed form evaluations, whose limits are in terms of the eccentric anomaly. The values of the limits for any arbitrary time interval are obtained from the Vinti program. Results of the BMW (Bonavito, Mistretta, Watson) theory for the case of the intense air drag satellites San Marco-2 and Air Force Cannonball are given. These results indicate that the satellite ephemerides produced by the BMW theory in conjunction with the Vinti program are of very high accuracy. In addition, since the program is entirely analytic, several months of ephemerides can be obtained within a few seconds of computer time.

Watson, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Instabilities and the transport of polarized astrophysical maser radiation

Time-dependent, radiative instabilities in the creation and transport of polarized astrophysical maser radiation in the presence of a magnetic field are calculated. The instabilities are similar to and occur under the same conditions as those found previously by Scappaticci & Watson for unpolarized maser radiation. The common limits in which the Zeeman splitting is much greater than, and much less than, the spectral line breadths are both considered in the current investigation. The resulting fluctuations in the emergent radiation are potentially relevant for the OH 1665 MHz masers which have been reported to fluctuate on timescales of 1000 s and which tend to be polarized. Instabilities occur and alter the transport of maser radiation only under a quite limited range of conditions. In particular, we find here that the instabilities do not occur for conditions that are appropriate for astrophysical masers with small Zeeman splittings such as the SiO and H2O masers. The time-independent, numerical solutions to the GKK equations of radiative transfer that have been obtained in previous investigations are thus essentially always valid except within a narrow range of conditions relevant for the OH masers.

Wallin, Bradley K.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The Search for Optimal Visual Stimuli

In 1983, Watson, Barlow and Robson published a brief report in which they explored the relative visibility of targets that varied in size, shape, spatial frequency, speed, and duration (referred to subsequently here as WBR). A novel aspect of that paper was that visibility was quantified in terms of threshold contrast energy, rather than contrast. As they noted, this provides a more direct measure of the efficiency with which various patterns are detected, and may be more edifying as to the underlying detection machinery. For example, under certain simple assumptions, the waveform of the most efficiently detected signal is an estimate of the receptive field of the visual system's most efficient detector. Thus one goal of their experiment Basuto search for the stimulus that the 'eye sees best'. Parenthetically, the search for optimal stimuli may be seen as the most general and sophisticated variant of the traditional 'subthreshold summation' experiment, in which one measures the effect upon visibility of small probes combined with a base stimulus.

Watson, Andrew B.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Visible Contrast Energy Metrics for Detection and Discrimination

Contrast energy was proposed by Watson, Robson, & Barlow as a useful metric for representing luminance contrast target stimuli because it represents the detectability of the stimulus in photon noise for an ideal observer. Like the eye, the ear is a complex transducer system, but relatively simple sound level meters are used to characterize sounds. These meters provide a range of frequency sensitivity functions and integration times depending on the intended use. We propose here the use of a range of contrast energy measures with different spatial frequency contrast sensitivity weightings, eccentricity sensitivity weightings, and temporal integration times. When detection threshold are plotting using such measures, the results show what the eye sees best when these variables are taken into account in a standard way. The suggested weighting functions revise the Standard Spatial Observer for luminance contrast detection and extend it into the near periphery. Under the assumption that the detection is limited only by internal noise, discrimination performance can be predicted by metrics based on the visible energy of the difference images

Ahumada, Albert↗
NASA NTRS2013

Applied Meteorology Unit Quarterly Report, Second Quarter FY-13

The AMU team worked on six tasks for their customers: (1) Ms. Crawford continued work on the objective lightning forecast task for airports in east-central Florida, and began work on developing a dual-Doppler analysis with local Doppler radars, (2) Ms. Shafer continued work for Vandenberg Air Force Base on an automated tool to relate pressure gradients to peak winds, (3) Dr. Huddleston continued work to develop a lightning timing forecast tool for the Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station area, (4) Dr. Bauman continued work on a severe weather forecast tool focused on east-central Florida, (5) Mr. Decker began developing a wind pairs database for the Launch Services Program to use when evaluating upper-level winds for launch vehicles, and (6) Dr. Watson began work to assimilate observational data into the high-resolution model configurations, she created for Wallops Flight Facility and the Eastern Range.

Bauman, William↗
NASA NTRS2013

Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) Quarterly Report Third Quarter FY · 13

The AMU team worked on seven tasks for their customers: (1) Ms. Crawford completed the objective lightning forecast tool for east -central Florida airports and delivered the tool and the final report to the customers. (2) Ms. Shafer continued work for Vandenberg Air Force Base on an automated tool to relate pressure gradients to peak winds. (3) Dr. Huddleston updated and delivered the tool that shows statistics on the timing of the first lightning strike of the day in the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) area. (4) Dr. Bauman continued work on a severe weather forecast tool focused on the Eastern Range (ER). (5) Ms. Crawford acquired the software and radar data needed to create a dual-Doppler analysis over the east-central Florida and KSC/CCAFS areas. (6) Mr. Decker continued developing a wind pairs database for the Launch Services Program to use when evaluating upper-level winds for launch vehicles. (7) Dr. Watson continued work to assimilate observational data into the high-resolution model configurations she created for Wallops Flight Facility and the ER.

Bauman, William↗
NASA NTRS2013

Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) Quarterly Report Fourth Quarter FY-13

Ms. Shafer completed the task to determine relationships between pressure gradients and peak winds at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), and began developing a climatology for the VAFB wind towers; Dr. Huddleston completed the task to develop a tool to help forecast the time of the first lightning strike of the day in the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) area; Dr. Bauman completed work on a severe weather forecast tool focused on the Eastern Range (ER), and also developed upper-winds analysis tools for VAFB and Wallops Fl ight Facility (WFF); Ms. Crawford processed and displayed radar data in the software she will use to create a dual-Doppler analysis over the east-central Florida and KSC/CCAFS areas; Mr. Decker completed developing a wind pairs database for the Launch Services Program to use when evaluating upper-level winds for launch vehicles; Dr. Watson continued work to assimilate observational data into the high-resolution model configurations she created for WFF and the ER.

Bauman, William↗