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At least 433 records · Page 24

User's Manual: Routines for Radiative Heat Transfer and Thermometry

Determining the intensity and spectral distribution of radiation emanating from a heated surface has applications in many areas of science and engineering. Areas of research in which the quantification of spectral radiation is used routinely include thermal radiation heat transfer, infrared signature analysis, and radiation thermometry. In the analysis of radiation, it is helpful to be able to predict the radiative intensity and the spectral distribution of the emitted energy. Presented in this report is a set of routines written in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington) and incorporating functions specific to Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington) that are useful for predicting the radiative behavior of heated surfaces. These routines include functions for calculating quantities of primary importance to engineers and scientists. In addition, the routines also provide the capability to use such information to determine surface temperatures from spectral intensities and for calculating the sensitivity of the surface temperature measurements to unknowns in the input parameters.

opticoelectronic devices↗

Skylab program earth resources experiment package: Ground truth data for test sites (SL-2)

Field measurements were performed at selected ground sites in order to provide comparative calibration measurements of sensors for the Earth Resources Experiment Package. Specifically, the solar radiation (400 to 1300 namometers) and thermal radiation (8-14 micrometers) were measured. Sites employed for the thermal measurements consisted of warm and cold water lakes. The thermal brightness temperature of the lake water, the temperature and humidity profile above the lake, and near surface meteorology (wind speed, pressure, etc.) were measured near the time of overpass. Sites employed for the solar radiation measurements were two desert type sites. Ground measurements consisted of: (1) direct solar radiation - optical depth; (2) diffuse solar radiation; (3) total solar radiation, (4) target directional (normal) reflectance; (5) target hemispherical reflectance; and (6) near surface meteorology.

Source record↗

Infrared and Reflected Solar Radiation Measurements from the TIROS 2 Meteorological Satellite

TIROS II contains instrumentation for measuring infrared and reflected solar radiation from the earth and its atmosphere. A medium resolution scanning radiometer and a low resolution non-scanning radiometer are employed. The satellite's spin provides the scan line of the medium resolution radiometer which is then advanced by the orbital motion. The spatial resolution is about 40 miles square when the earth directly beneath the satellite is viewed. The five channels employ bolometer detectors and filters to limit the spectral responses to five bands: 6 to 6.5 microns, 8 to 12 microns, 0.2 to 6 microns, 8 to 30 microns, and 0.55 to 0.75 microns. These five bands study, respectively: radiation in the water vapor absorption band; day and nighttime cloud cover; albedo; thermal radiation; and visual maps for comparison with satellite vidicon pictures. The low resolution non-scanning radiometer measures the earth's black-body temperature and albedo. Its field when viewing directly below is a circle of 450 miles diameter, covering part of each frame from the wide-field television camera. This radiometer consists of two thermistors, each in the apex of a reflective cone which provides optical gain. One thermistor is black and responds to both thermal and reflected solar radiation. The second responds to thermal but reflects solar radiation. The design, calibration, performance, and data reduction for both systems are discussed herein.

Bandeen, W. R.↗

The MISSE 7 Flexural Stress Effects Experiment After 1.5 Years of Wake Space Exposure

Low Earth orbit space environment conditions, including ultraviolet radiation, thermal cycling, and atomic oxygen exposure, can cause degradation of exterior spacecraft materials over time. Radiation and thermal exposure often results in bond- breaking and embrittlement of polymers, reducing mechanical strength and structural integrity. An experiment called the Flexural Stress Effects Experiment (FSEE) was flown with the objective of determining the role of space environmental exposure on the degradation of polymers under flexural stress. The FSEE samples were flown in the wake orientation on the exterior of International Space Station for 1.5 years. Twenty-four samples were flown: 12 bent over a 0.375 in. mandrel and 12 were over a 0.25 in. mandrel. This was designed to simulate flight configurations of insulation blankets on spacecraft. The samples consisted of assorted polyimide and fluorinated polymers with various coatings. Half the samples were designated for bend testing and the other half will be tensile tested. A non-standard bend-test procedure was designed to determine the surface strain at which embrittled polymers crack. All ten samples designated for bend testing have been tested. None of the control samples' polymers cracked, even under surface strains up to 19.7%, although one coating cracked. Of the ten flight samples tested, seven show increased embrittlement through bend-test induced cracking at surface strains from 0.70%to 11.73%. These results show that most of the tested polymers are embrittled due to space exposure, when compared to their control samples. Determination of the extent of space induced embrittlement of polymers is important for designing durable spacecraft.

Snow, Kate E.↗

Theory and Observations of Non-Thermal Phenomena in Hot Massive Binaries

The shock between the colliding winds in binary systems containing two massive stars accelerates particles to relativistic energies. These energetic particles can produce observable non-thermal radiation from the radio to gamma-rays. The important physical processes in such systems are very similar to those we have proposed for non-thermal emissions from single hot stars, which have shocks generated by instabilities in the radiatively driven stellar winds. This paper discusses the theory and observations of non-thermal radiation in the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray regions from both single stars and massive binaries. Similarities and differences between the two types of systems are outlined. We discuss two important physical effects that apparently have been neglected in previous theoretical work on colliding wind binaries.

White, Richard L.↗

On the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere

A radiative-thermal conduction model for the vertical thermal structure of Io's atmosphere is developed with solar heating by SO2 absorption in UV and near-IR bands and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) cooling by SO2 nu(sub 1), nu(sub 2), nu(sub 3), vibrational bands and rotational lines. The model predicts the existence of a mesopause in Io's atmosphere when the surface pressure exceeds approximately 10 nbar. The radiative time constant for establishing a mesosphere/mesopause on Io is only approximately 20 min, whereas the thermospheric radiative time constant is about 1 hr. These time constants are significantly shorter than the diurnal time scale and competitive with dynamic time scales. In the thermosphere when solar UV heating dominates, the asymptotic thermospheric temperature is approximately 270 K, only 140 K greater than the surface temperature because at high altiudes non-LTE cooling by SO2 rotation lines exceeds cooling in the nu(sub 2) virbrational band. Solar-heating-only modles are incapable of generating warm enough atmospheres to satisfy the observational inferences from UV and especially millimeter-wave meausrements. Joule heating driven by the penetration of Jupiter's corotational electric field into Io's conducting ionosphere is demonstrated to be the dominant heating mechanism in the subnanobar regions of Io's atmosphere with tempertures ranging from 150 to 1000 K as a function of decreasing pressure from 1 to 0.1 nbar, The asymoptotic thermospheric temperature can attain a value as high as 1800 K.

Strobel, Darrell F.↗

Tiros IV Radiation Data Catalog and Users' Manual

The TIROS IV Meteorological Satellite contains a medium resolution scanning radiometer. Two of the channels of this instrument are sensitive to reflected solar radiation and the remaining two respond to emitted thermal radiation from the earth and its atmosphere. The two thermal channels are calibrated in terms of equivalent blackbody temperatures, and the reflected solar radiation channels in terms of effective radiant emittances. The calibration data, along with orbital and attitude data and the radiation data from the satellite, were incorporated in a computer program for an IBM 7090 which was used to produce, in binary form, the "Final Meteorological Radiation Tape" which is the basic repository of all radiation data. After launch, the radiometer displaye d the same degradation of response characteristics as did its predecessors in TIROS II and TIROS III. The onset of degradation results in a departure of the data from the prelaunch laboratory calibration. The cause of degradation has not been determined, and the matter is still being studied at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Before work with the TIROS IV radiation data is attempted, an understanding of the radiometer, its calibration, and the problems encountered in the experiment, especially from response degradation, is essential. The instrumentation design, development work, and the calibrations herein described were performed by the Goddard Space Flight Center Staff, whereas the computer and programming efforts were carried out jointly by the staffs of the National Weather Satellite Center, U. S. Weather Bureau, and the Goddard Space Flight Center. In this Catalog-Manual, the radiometer an d its calibration, data processing, the "Final Meteorological Radiation Tape", the observed degradation patterns, and possible corrections for degradation are discussed. The Catalog-Manual also includes, in two forms, documentation of each orbit of successfully reduced radiation data acquired by TIROS IV. One method of presentation is the Index of Final Meteorological Radiation Tapes and the other is a Subpoint Track, Summary of Available Radiation Data in diagrammatic form.

TIROS IV SATELLITE↗