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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 379 records · Page 21
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NASA NTRS1974

Variable features on Mars III - Comparison of Mariner 1969 and Mariner 1971 photography

Mariner 9 (M9) and Mariner 6 and 7 photography of common regions of Mars are compared, with appropriate attention to the photometric properties of the camera systems. The comparison provides a 2.5 yr time baseline for study of variable albedo features. We find the development of bright streaks and patches, a phenomenon unobserved through the entire M9 mission; the evolution of dark crater splotches into dark streaks; and a planetwide increase in splotchiness. Yet, a large number of splotches and albedo boundaries remain fixed over the same period. Many of the observations are interpreted in terms of a global fallout and subsequent local redistribution of bright fine particulates raised by global dust storms.

Veverka, J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Magnetic field of the magnetosheath

The magnetic field of the magnetosheath is most naturally discussed in terms of its steady state and its fluctuating components. Theory of the steady state field is quite well developed and its essential features have been confirmed by observations. The interplanetary field is convected through the bow shock where its magnitude is increased and its direction changed by the minimal amount necessary to preserve the normal component across the shock. Convection within the magnetosheath usually increases the magnitude still further near the subsolar point and further distortes the direction until the field is aligned approximately tangent to the magnetopause. Fluctuations of the magnetosheath field are very complex, variable and not well understood. Spectral peaks are common features which occur at different frequencies at various times. Perturbation vectors of hydromagnetic waves tend to be aligned with the shock and magnetopause surfaces. Magnetosheath waves may be generated upstream, within the magnetosheath, at the bow shock, or at the magnetopause, but the relative importance of these sources is not known.

Fairfield, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Summary of drag clean-up tests in NASA Langley full-scale tunnel

This summary of drag results presents tabulations on fighter aircraft and light twin general aviation aircraft wind tunnel tests. The figures show that the friction drag for light twins is larger than that for the fighters because of the greater wetted area and the smaller wing area used for reference. Full scale tunnel tests developed the following design features contributing to excessive drag: cooling flow system, engine exhaust stacks, landing gears, control surface gaps, and wing irregularities and leakages.

Mckinney, M. O.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Magnetic fields of the magnetosheath

The magnetic field of the magnetosheath is most naturally discussed in terms of its steady state and its fluctuating components. The theory of the steady-state field is quite well developed, and its essential features have been confirmed by observations. The interplanetary field is convected through the bow shock, where its magnitude is increased and its direction changed by the minimal amount necessary to preserve the normal component across the shock. Convection within the magnetosheath usually increases the magnitude still further near the subsolar point and further distorts the direction until the field is aligned approximately tangent to the magnetopause. Fluctuations of the magnetosheath field are very complex, variable, and not well understood. Transverse waves are often dominant at frequencies below 0.002 Hz, and compressional waves are often dominant at somewhat higher frequencies. Perturbation vectors of hydromagnetic waves tend to be aligned with the shock and magnetopause surfaces. Magnetosheath waves may be generated upstream, within the magnetosheath, at the bow shock, or at the magnetopause.

Fairfield, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Operational plans for life science payloads - From experiment selection through postflight reporting

Key features of operational plans developed in a study of the Space Shuttle era life science payloads program are presented. The data describes the overall acquisition, staging, and integration of payload elements, as well as program implementation methods and mission support requirements. Five configurations were selected as representative payloads: (a) carry-on laboratories - medical emphasis experiments, (b) mini-laboratories - medical/biology experiments, (c) seven-day dedicated laboratories - medical/biology experiments, (d) 30-day dedicated laboratories - Regenerative Life Support Evaluation (RLSE) with selected life science experiments, and (e) Biomedical Experiments Scientific Satellite (BESS) - extended duration primate (Type I) and small vertebrate (Type II) missions. The recommended operational methods described in the paper are compared to the fundamental data which has been developed in the life science Spacelab Mission Simulation (SMS) test series. Areas assessed include crew training, experiment development and integration, testing, data-dissemination, organization interfaces, and principal investigator working relationships.

Mccollum, G. W.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Background of a shielded Ge(Li) spectrometer at balloon altitudes

The background data obtained from an actively shielded Ge(Li) spectrometer flown on a balloon were analyzed and a preliminary model was developed to explain background features including the intensity and time profile of line emission. These features can be explained by a combination of secondary radiation originating in the CsI shield and atmospheric secondary radiation leaking through it.

Mahoney, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The physics of gridded and conductive coated dielectrics for spacecraft

Theoretical aspects of electrostatic control and design of gridded and conductive film bonded polymers, for spacecraft Thermo-optical blankets are considered. Brief commentaries relative to the salient features of the primarily developed facility for and characterization of said polymers is also considered.

Okress, E. C.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Polynominal Interpolation Methods for Viscous Flow Calculations

Higher-order collocation procedures resulting in tridiagonal matrix systems are derived from polynomial spline interpolation and by Hermitian (Taylor series) finite-difference discretization. The similarities and special features of these different developments are discussed. The governing systems apply for both uniform and variable meshes. Hybrid schemes resulting from two different polynomial approximations for the first and second derivatives lead to a nonuniform mesh extension of the so-called compact or Pad? difference technique (Hermite 4). A variety of fourth-order methods are described and the Hermitian approach is extended to sixth-order (Hermite 6). The appropriate spline boundary conditions are derived for all procedures. For central finite differences, this leads to a two-point, second-order accurate generalization of the commonly used three-point end-difference formula. Solutions with several spline and Hermite procedures are presented for the boundary layer equations, with and without mass transfer, and for the incompressible viscous flow in a driven cavity. Divergence and nondivergence equations are considered for the cavity. Among the fourth-order techniques, it is shown that spline 4 has the smallest truncation error. The spline 4 procedure generally requires one-quarter the number of mesh points in a given coordinate direction as a central finite-difference calculation of equal accuracy. The Hermite 6 procedure leads to remarkably accurate boundary layer solutions.

Rubin, S. G.↗
NASA NTRS1979

C IV resonance line profiles in O stars

Graphs of normalized fluxes derived from objective-prism spectra (from the S-019 experiment on Skylab), and C IV profiles are presented. The C IV resonance profile, when studied with respect to bolometric magnitude and effective temperature, reveals mass loss conditions without requiring precise mass loss rates. There is a clear trend in the C IV feature toward more fully developed P Cygni profiles at higher luminosities, and a significant velocity shift in the C IV absorption down to bolometric magnitude approximately equal to -7.7.

Parsons, S. B.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Modeling and control of a LN2-GN2 operated closed circuit cryogenic wind tunnel

An explicit but simple lumped parameter nonlinear multivariable model of a LN2-GN2-operated closed circuit cryogenic wind tunnel has been developed and its basic features have been experimentally validated. The model describes the mass-energy interaction involved in the cryogenic tunnel process and includes the real gas properties of nitrogen gas.

Balakrishna, S.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Properties of African squall lines inferred from time-lapse satellite imagery

Analysis of 48 h of time-lapse satellite imagery of a family of squall lines in Africa links the phenomena with a characteristic cloud cluster and with a wind field perturbation which is enhanced in passing through an African easterly wave trough. A thin 'arc line' of low-level developing cumulus, a salient feature of the squall lines on the imagery, is shown to occur at the front boundary of the mesoscale/convective scale subsidence. Analysis of the wind field indicates that a squall line is associated with a vorticity center in the mid-level easterly flow which accompanies the mesoscale subsidence which, in turn, contributes to further forced ascent of subcloud air along the front of the squall line into convective towers which merge into an extensive anvil. The squall lines evolved through a life cycle of 6 to 12 h while the larger cloud cluster and wind perturbation lasted over 48 h. The magnitude of the vertical mass exchange suggests that squall-line families contribute significantly to the tropical energy balance.

Fortune, M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Bird flight and airplane flight

Research was based on a series of mechanical, electrical, and cinematographic instruments developed to measure various features of air current behavior as well as bird and airplane flight. Investigation of rising obstruction and thermal currents led to a theory of bird flight, especially of the gliding and soaring types. It was shown how a knowledge of bird flight can be applied to glider and ultimately motorized aircraft construction. The instruments and methods used in studying stress in airplanes and in comparing the lift to drag ratios of airplanes and birds are described.

Magnan, A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Coating of plasma polymerized film

Plasma polymerized thin film coating and the use of other coatings is suggested for passivation film, thin film used for conducting light, and solid body lubrication film of dielectrics of ultra insulators for electrical conduction, electron accessories, etc. The special features of flow discharge development and the polymerized film growth mechanism are discussed.

Morita, S.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Solar cells and modules from dentritic web silicon

Some of the noteworthy features of the processes developed in the fabrication of solar cell modules are the handling of long lengths of web, the use of cost effective dip coating of photoresist and antireflection coatings, selective electroplating of the grid pattern and ultrasonic bonding of the cell interconnect. Data on the cells is obtained by means of dark I-V analysis and deep level transient spectroscopy. A histogram of over 100 dentritic web solar cells fabricated in a number of runs using different web crystals shows an average efficiency of over 13%, with some efficiencies running above 15%. Lower cell efficiency is generally associated with low minority carrier time due to recombination centers sometimes present in the bulk silicon. A cost analysis of the process sequence using a 25 MW production line indicates a selling price of $0.75/peak watt in 1986. It is concluded that the efficiency of dentritic web cells approaches that of float zone silicon cells, reduced somewhat by the lower bulk lifetime of the former.

Campbell, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

A study of interactive control scheduling and economic assessment for robotic systems

A class of interactive control systems is derived by generalizing interactive manipulator control systems. Tasks of interactive control systems can be represented as a network of a finite set of actions which have specific operational characteristics and specific resource requirements, and which are of limited duration. This has enabled the decomposition of the overall control algorithm simultaneously and asynchronously. The performance benefits of sensor referenced and computer-aided control of manipulators in a complex environment is evaluated. The first phase of the CURV arm control system software development and the basic features of the control algorithms and their software implementation are presented. An optimal solution for a production scheduling problem that will be easy to implement in practical situations is investigated.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1982

The European Spacelab structural design evolution

Spacelab is a manned, reusable laboratory which is being developed for the European Space Agency (ESA). In its working mode it will fly in low earth orbit in the cargo bay of the Shuttle Transportation System (STS) Orbiter. A description is presented of the structural development of the various features of Spacelab. System requirements are considered along with structural requirements, quasi-static loads, acoustic loads, pressure loads, crash loads, ground loads, and the fatigue profile. Aspects of thermal environment generation are discussed, and questions regarding the design evolution of the pallet structure are examined. Details of pallet structure testing are reported, taking into account static strength tests, acoustic tests, the modal survey test, crash tests, and fatigue/fracture mechanics testing.

Thirkettle, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Aerothermodynamic entry environment of the Space Shuttle Orbiter

The entry aerothermodynamic environment for the Space Shuttle vehicle was an important factor in the design of the Orbiter. A design goal established during the initial study phase of the Shuttle program was to minimize the thermal protection system's weight. A description is presented of the design approach and preliminary flight test results relative to the entry heating environment for the complex flowfield regions of the Space Shuttle Orbiter. Attention is given to Orbiter aerothermodynamic design features, aspects of trajectory development, the wind tunnel test program, heating environments, boundary-layer transition problems, and the flight test program.

Lee, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Urban change detection procedures using Landsat digital data

Landsat multispectral scanner data was applied to an urban change detection problem in Denver, CO. A dichotomous key yielding ten stages of residential development at the urban fringe was developed. This heuristic model allowed one to identify certain stages of development which are difficult to detect when performing digital change detection using Landsat data. The stages of development were evaluated in terms of their spectral and derived textural characteristics. Landsat band 5 (0.6-0.7 micron) and texture data produced change detection maps which were approximately 81 percent accurate. Results indicated that the stage of development and the spectral/textural features affect the change in the spectral values used for change detection. These preliminary findings will hopefully prove valuable for improved change detection at the urban fringe.

Jensen, J. R.↗