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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 NTRS2020

Encealdus Orbilander: A Flagship Mission Concept for Astrobiology

"Whether life exists beyond Earth remains a fundamental question driving our exploration of the Solar System. At Saturn’s moon Enceladus, plumes of oceanic material vented into space allow the investigation of the astrobiological potential of an ocean world, hinted at by Cassini, without the necessity of drilling through kilometers of ice crust. The Enceladus Orbilander is a flagship ($2.56B in fiscal year 2025 dollars) mission concept created for the 2023–2033 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Orbilander takes full advantage of the opportunity provided by Enceladus’ plumes to search for signs of life. A single spacecraft both orbits and lands, capturing samples from four distinct reservoirs offered by the plumes. These samples, both particulate and vapor, are then analyzed by the Life Detection Suite (LDS), a set of five instruments conducting complementary and orthogonal biosignature-seeking measurements. To provide the context that specifically enhances interpretation of LDS measurements, geochemical and geophysical investigations are conducted both in orbit and on the surface. These reveal the physio-chemical state of the ocean and core as well as the processes involved in ejection of plume material and how these affect the ocean material analyzed by the LDS. The Orbilander can be delivered to the Saturn system via several launch vehicle and trajectory options, including a direct trajectory (7-year cruise), a ∆V-EGA trajectory (9-year cruise) and several options using an inner cruise with Venus and Earth flybys (10-year cruise). Upon Saturn Orbit Insertion, a 4-year moon tour pumps down the Orbilander’s orbit to intercept Enceladus. The most optimal arrival times balance the Jupiter flyby opportunities of the late 2030s and solar illumination at the Enceladus high southern latitudes where plume material is most abundant. This mission concept therefore targets project start in 2030. Upon Enceladus Orbit Insertion, the Orbilander begins a 1.5-year-long campaign of landing site reconnaissance, remote sensing science, and collecting sufficient plume sample to run all but one of the LDS measurements. After successful landing, the Orbilander spends 2 years on the surface conducting multiple LDS measurements with all five instruments on actively and passively collected plume material, as well as seismic investigations. The schedule laid out here is well-defined, but the mission also has operational and resource flexibility should additional reconnaissance be needed. As part of the design study, mission and development risks were identified and mitigation strategies proposed. Technologies key to achieving the life detection science objectives include instrumentation matured under programs like COLDTech and ICEE-2, such as aspects of the sampling system and microfluidic devices, as well as well-known techniques like high-resolution and separation-capable mass spectrometers. Autonomous onboard navigation is planned to maintain a halo orbit around Enceladus to enable passive sampling from orbit as well as reconnaissance measurements for use in site selection and landing. Terrain relative navigation is included to ensure safe landing, given that targeted areas may contain landing hazards. Continued development of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) technology and long-life batteries is essential for this long duration mission. The Enceladus Orbilander represents an optimal point in the trade space of science value versus cost, taking advantage of the extensive knowledge of Enceladus provided by Cassini, how well Enceladus lends itself to a search for life in material from its ocean, and the flexibility afforded by the innovative design developed by the APL team. By taking full advantage of Enceladus’ plumes both in orbit and on the surface, Orbilander represents a robust search for life with complementary and orthogonal biosignatures as well as contextual geophysical and geochemical measurements, determining not only whether Enceladus is inhabited (at levels up to 500,000× scarcer than in Earth’s oceans) but also why. "

Exobiology↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

AMEGO-X: MeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy in the Multimessenger Era

Recent detections of gravitational wave signals and neutrinos from gamma-ray sources have ushered in the era of multi-messenger astronomy, while highlighting the importance of gamma-ray observations for this emerging field. AMEGO-X, the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-Ray Observatory eXplorer, is an MeV gamma-ray instrument that will survey the sky in the energy range from hundreds of keV to one GeV with unprecedented sensitivity. AMEGO-X will detect gamma-ray photons both via Compton interactions and pair production processes, bridging the “sensitivity gap” between hard X-rays and high-energy gamma rays. AMEGO-X will provide important contributions to multi-messenger science and time-domain gamma-ray astronomy, studying e.g. high-redshift blazars, which are probable sources of astrophysical neutrinos, and gamma-ray bursts. I will present an overview of the instrument and science program.

Henrike Fleischhack↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Observational Evidence for the Hanle and Magneto-Optical Effects in the Polarization of the Mg II h & k Lines Observed by CLASP2

CLASP2 (Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter) - Demonstration of the UV spectro-polarimetery as a diagnostic tool of magnetic fields in upper chromosphere - High-precision (<0.1%) spectro-polarimetry across the Mg II h & k around 280 nm - Aim at measuring magnetic field in top chromosphere - International NASA sounding rocket program - Refitted the instrument: CLASP (Lya @ 122 nm) → CLASP2) - Launched at White Sands Missile Range, NM, USA on April 11, 2019

R. Ishikawa↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Miniature Solid-State Spectrometer for Space Applications: Field Tests

A solid state infrared spectrometer has been developed under the Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program PIDDP to implement a small rugged spectrometer principally for landed applications. The instrument uses the high index of refraction and waveguide properties of a silicon slab to achieve good spectral resolution and high throughput in a small instrument footprint (less than 25 cm). Light enters the silicon slab and is reflected off a grating (Ebert configuration), utilizing the silicon index of refraction to achieve high dispersion. An array of microthermopiles is used to measure the amplitude of the dispersed light. Input optics are typically utilized to focus light on the input aperture and a chopper is used to compensate system drift.

Smythe, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Annual Report 2005

What an amazing host of new sights 2005 brought us. With impeccable choreography, one spacecraft sent an impactor slamming into a comet, reversing the traditional view of these space wayfarers by revealing it to be buried in deep drifts of a fine talcum-like powder. Another spacecraft delivered a probe from our European partners to the surface of Saturn's haze-shrouded moon Titan, disclosing a landscape eerily like Earth's, if we had methane rivers cascading down hillsides of ice. An orbiting observatory for the first time showed us the light from planets circling other stars, which astronomers previously knew to exist only from indirect clues. Throughout the year we also amassed continually expanding views of Earth as well as Mars, by far the most-explored planet after our own. In all, 18 spacecraft and five instruments were stationed across the solar system, studying our own world, other planets, comets and the deeper universe. These missions were enabled by the efforts of everyone at JPL. The Deep Space Network of communications complexes across three continents continued to experience a period of remarkable activity. Others were at work creating technologies both for NASA missions and other uses. JPL's contingent of scientific researchers was equally busy coordinating the science activities of our missions or pursuing independent investigations. None of this would be possible without the support of world-class business and administrative teams. All of our missions in one way or another support our nations Vision for Space Exploration, which envisages a gradually widening robotic and human presence across the solar system in the years ahead. The year was not without its challenges. NASA set forth to implement the Vision for Space Exploration, which resulted in some flight projects and technology efforts being terminated. To adjust to this new direction, it was necessary for us to reduce the JPL workforce by about five percent. Taking steps like this is painful, but we tried to make the process as orderly as possible. In the end, the adjustments made have left JPL on a healthy footing for the years ahead.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)↗
NASA NTRS1969

Instrumentation of a NASAP subroutine

NASAP program FORTRAN subroutine LOOPS for loop detection in circuit analysis, discussing automatic instrumentation process for computation time reduction

Mcnamee, L. P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Measurement of trace stratospheric constituents with a balloon borne laser radar

The objective of this research was to measure the concentration of the stratospheric hydroxyl radical and related chemical species as a function of altitude, season, and time of day. Although hydroxyl plays a very important role in the chemistry controlling stratospheric ozone, little is known about its behavior because it has been a difficult species to measure. The instrument employed in this program was a laser radar, employing the technique of remote laser induced fluorescence. This instrument offers a number of attractive features including extreme specificity and sensitivity, a straightforward relationship between observed quantity and the desired concentration, and immunity to self-contamination.

Heaps, William S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Development of the Potassium-Argon Laser Experiment (KArLE) Instrument for In Situ Geochronology

Absolute dating of planetary samples is an essential tool to establish the chronology of geological events, including crystallization history, magmatic evolution, and alteration. Traditionally, geochronology has only been accomplishable on samples from dedicated sample return missions or meteorites. The capability for in situ geochronology is highly desired, because it will allow one-way planetary missions to perform dating of large numbers of samples. The success of an in situ geochronology package will not only yield data on absolute ages, but can also complement sample return missions by identifying the most interesting rocks to cache and/or return to Earth. In situ dating instruments have been proposed, but none have yet reached TRL 6 because the required high-resolution isotopic measurements are very challenging. Our team is now addressing this challenge by developing the Potassium (K) - Argon Laser Experiment (KArLE) under the NASA Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program (PIDDP), building on previous work to develop a K-Ar in situ instrument [1]. KArLE uses a combination of several flight-proven components that enable accurate K-Ar isochron dating of planetary rocks. KArLE will ablate a rock sample, determine the K in the plasma state using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), measure the liberated Ar using quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS), and relate the two by the volume of the ablated pit using an optical method such as a vertical scanning interferometer (VSI). Our preliminary work indicates that the KArLE instrument will be capable of determining the age of several kinds of planetary samples to +/-100 Myr, sufficient to address a wide range of geochronology problems in planetary science.

Cohen, Barbara A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

NASA SMD Airborne Science Capabilities for Development and Testing of New Instruments

The SMD NASA Airborne Science Program operates and maintains a fleet of highly modified aircraft to support instrument development, satellite instrument calibration, data product validation and earth science process studies. This poster will provide an overview of aircraft available to NASA researchers including performance specifications and modifications for instrument support, processes for requesting aircraft time and developing cost estimates for proposals, and policies and procedures required to ensure safety of flight.

Earth Sciences↗
NASA NTRS1992

The evolution of the FIGARO data reduction system

The Figaro data reduction system originated at Caltech around 1983. It was based on concepts being developed in the U.K. by the Starlink organization, particularly the use of hierarchical self-defining data structures and the abstraction of most user-interaction into a set of 'parameter system' routines. Since 1984 it has continued to be developed at AAO, in collaboration with Starlink and Caltech. It was adopted as Starlink's main spectroscopic data reduction package, although it is by no means limited to spectra; it has operations for images and data cubes and even a few (very specialized) for four-dimensional data hypercubes. It continued to be used at Caltech and will be used at the Keck. It is also in use at a variety of other organizations around the world. Figaro was originally a system for VMS Vaxes. Recently it was ported (at Caltech) to run on SUN's, and work is underway at the University of New South Wales on a DecStation version. It is hoped to coordinate all this work into a unified release, but coordination of the development of a system by organizations covering three continents poses a number of interesting administrative problems. The hierarchical data structures used by Figaro allow it to handle a variety of types of data, and to add new items to data structures. Error and data quality information was added to the basic file format used, error information being particularly useful for infrared data. Cooperating sets of programs can add specific sub-structures to data files to carry information that they understand (polarimetry data containing multiple data arrays, for example), without this affecting the way other programs handle the files. Complex instrument-specific ancillary information can be added to data files written at a telescope and can be used by programs that understand the instrumental details in order to produce properly calibrated data files. Once this preliminary data processing was done the resulting files contain 'ordinary' spectra or images that can be processed by programs that are not instrument-specific. The structures holding the instrumental information can then be discarded from the files. Much effort has gone into trying to make it easy to write Figaro programs; data access subroutines are now available to handle access to all the conventional items found in Figaro files (main data arrays, error information, quality information etc), and programs that only need to access such items can be very simple indeed. A large number of Figaro users do indeed write their own Figaro applications using these routines. The fact that Figaro programs are written as callable subroutines getting information from the user through a small set of parameter routines means that they can be invoked in numerous ways; they are normally linked and run as individual programs (called by a small main routine that is generated automatically), but are also available linked to run under the ADAM data acquisition system and there is an interface that lets them be called as part of a user-written Fortran program. The long-term future of Figaro probably depends to a large extent on how successfully it manages the transition from being a VMS-only system to being a multi-platform system.

Shortridge, K.↗
NASA NTRS2020

MODIS and VIIRS Calibration History and Future Outlook

The MODIS is a key instrument for NASA’s EOS program, currently operated onboard the Terra and Aqua spacecraft launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively. The VIIRS is a MODIS follow-on instrument for the JPSS program. Adding to the ones operated onboard the S-NPP and NOAA-20 satellites launched in 2011 and 2017, respectively, three nearly identical VIIRS instruments will also be launched. This will enable the data records from MODIS and VIIRS to be extended beyond 2040. In addition to various applications and scientific studies of the Earth’s system, long-term data records from MODIS and VIIRS observations will greatly benefit the space-based climate observing system. This is attributed to the high-quality measurements and extensive calibration efforts, from pre-launch to post-launch. This paper provides an overview of MODIS and VIIRS calibration history and approaches applied to establish and maintain sensor calibration traceability and accuracy. It illustrates calibration and performance issues through different phases of the mission using examples derived from ground testing equipment, on-board calibrators, and other calibration targets. Moreover, discussed in this paper are outstanding challenges and future efforts to maintain and improve sensor calibration stability and long-term data quality, and to better support the space-based climate observing system.

MODIS↗
NASA NTRS1991

Infusion of instrumentation technology (engine plume diagnostics) into operational test programs

The following subject areas are covered: hierarchy of civil space technology program; evolution of technology development; technology validation process; potential impacts; impacts of technology infusion into flight certifications; potential solutions; examples of current technology infusion into flight certification; OAET-CSTI health monitoring and controls; and challenges for future space vehicle propulsion systems.

Woods, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS2000

AVHRR-Based Polar Pathfinder Products: Evaluation, Enhancement and Transition to MODIS

Study of the environment has historically been done with observations and measurements in relatively few local areas. While some of these have been done over long time spans, most have not. The NOAA/NASA Pathfinder project was initiated to complement these data sets with satellite data that can provide information over larger spatial areas and longer time spans. The AVHRR Polar Pathfinder (APR) program was part of this project. The APR was to supply data from the NOAA AVHRR instruments that was consistently generated in a format usable to a wide range of scientific investigators. A grant was obtained from the NASA Research Announcement 97-MTPE-03 to evaluate the APP products, to provide any enhancements, and to compare with products from the new MODIS instrument. There was about a two year overlap between the projects, and this validation effort had several impacts on the APP products. The APP products are derived from the instruments aboard 4 NOAA satellites, NOAA-7, 9, 11, and 14. Initial validation efforts compared the thermal calibrations of these instruments, and differences are found. Calibration has undergone many revisions and techniques have changed since the satellites were launched. The first calibration methods were optimized for global ocean temperatures, as this was one of the primary and important uses of the AVHRR instruments. As the APP program started, newer methods that provided more accurate temperature retrievals over a wider range of temperatures were being developed. The calibration of a wider range of temperatures were necessary because of the extremely low values in the polar regions. These methods were also designed so that calibrated data was also consistent between all the NOAA satellites. These newer calibration methods were then adopted primarily because of the initial finding of this validation effort.

Fowler, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1994

Analysis of solar spectral irradiance measurements from the SBUV/2-series and the SSBUV instruments

The measurements of the solar ultraviolet spectral irradiance by the two Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) solar instruments are validated to agree within their 2-Sigma calibration uncertainties of about 7 percent, as well as with measurements from the two solar instruments on the Shuttle Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) missions. Additionally, the precision of the two UARS data sets is better than the original 2 percent goal, especially at wavelengths greater than 160 nm. This excellent agreement can be credited to accurate pre-flight calibrations, comprehensive in-flight calibrations to track instrument degradation, and a coordinated validation program among the UARS and ATLAS solar instrument teams. The solar irradiance results presented here include those derived from UARS SUSIM, UARS SOLSTICE, ATLAS SUSIM and ATLAS SSBUV measurements on 29 March 1992 during the ATLAS-1 mission and on 15 April 1993 during the ATLAS-2 mission. Two ultraviolet spectra from 119 to 410 nm are derived as the weighted average of the UARS SOLSTICE and SUSIM measurements and are recommended as representative solar spectra for the period of the ATLAS-1 and ATLAS-2 missions. The ATLAS-1 mission occurred during the initial phase of the solar cycle 22 decline when solar activity was moderately high. The ATLAS-2 mission occurred later during the declining phase of the solar cycle 22 when solar activity was more moderate.

Cebula, Richard P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Other groundbased observations

Ground-based solar observational programs are discussed. The Birmingham (U.K.) solar oscillation network (BiSON) program, the Crimean (Ukraine) low degree program, the Stanford (California) low degree program, the Tenerife (Spain) group program, the South Pole program, the Mount Wilson (California) program, the international research on the interior of the sun (IRIS) network program, the high-l helioseismometer instrument, the ground luminosity oscillations imager (LOI) program, and the Taiwanese oscillation network (TON) program, are outlined.

Duvall, Thomas L., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Utilization of Space Station Freedom for technology research

Space Station Freedom presents a unique opportunity for technology developers to conduct research in the space environment. Research can be conducted in the pressurized volume of the Space Station's laboratories or attached to the Space Station truss in the vacuum of space. Technology developers, represented by the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST), will have 12 percent of the available Space Station resources (volume, power, data, crew, etc.) to use for their research. Most technologies can benefit from research on Space Station Freedom and all these technologies are represented in the OAST proposed traffic model. This traffic model consists of experiments that have been proposed by technology developers but not necessarily selected for flight. Experiments to be flown in space will be selected through an Announcement of Opportunity (A.O.) process. The A.O. is expected to be released in August, 1992. Experiments will generally fall into one of the 3 following categories: (1) Individual technology experiments; (2) Instrumented Space Station; and (3) Guest investigator program. The individual technology experiments are those that do not instrument the Space Station nor directly relate to the development of technologies for evolution of Space Station or development of advanced space platforms. The Instrumented Space Station category is similar to the Orbiter Experiments Program and allows the technology developer to instrument subsystems on the Station or develop instrumentation packages that measure products or processes of the Space Station for the advancement of space platform technologies. The guest investigator program allows the user to request data from Space Station or other experiments for independent research. When developing an experiment, a developer should consider all the resources and infrastructure that Space Station Freedom can provide and take advantage of these to the maximum extent possible. Things like environment, accommodations, carriers, and integration should all be taken into account. In developing experiments at Langley Research Center, an iterative approach is proving useful. This approach uses Space Station utilization and subsystem experts to advise and critique experiment designs to take advantage of everything the Space Station has to offer. Also, solid object modeling and animation computer tools are used to fully visualize the experiment and its processes. This process is very useful for attached payloads and allows problems to be detected early in the experiment design phase.

Avery, Don E.↗