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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 469 records · Page 26
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NASA NTRS1992

Determination of soil moisture distribution from impedance and gravimetric measurements

Daily measurements of the soil dielectric properties at 5 and 10 cm were obtained at five locations throughout the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) test site during the 1987 intensive field campaigns (IFCs). An automated vector voltmeter was used to monitor the complex electrical impedance, at 10 MHz, of cylindrical volumes of soil delineated by specially designed soil moisture probes buried at these locations. The objective of this exercise was to test the hypothesis that the soil impedance is sensitive to the moisture content of the soil and that the imaginary part (that is, capacitive reactance) can be used to calculate the volumetric water content of the soil. These measurements were compared with gravimetric samples collected at these locations by the FIFE staff science team.

Ungar, Stephen G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Clementine: An inexpensive mission to the Moon and Geographos

The Clementine Mission, a joint project of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) and NASA, has been planned primarily to test and demonstrate a suite of lightweight sensors and other lightweight spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment. Although the primary objective of the mission is to space-qualify sensors for Department of Defense applications, it was recognized in 1990 that such a mission might also be designed to acquire scientific observations of the Moon and of Apollo asteroid (1620) Geographos. This possibility was explored jointly by SDIO and NASA, including representatives from NASA's Discovery Program Science Working Group, in early 1991. Besides the direct return of scientific information, one of the benefits envisioned from a joint venture was the development of lightweight components for possible future use in NASA's Discovery-class spacecraft. In Jan. 1992, SDIO informed NASA of its intent to fly a 'Deep Space Program Science Experiment,' now popularly called Clementine; NASA then formed an advisory science working group to assist in the early development of the mission. The Clementine spacecraft is being assembled at the Naval Research Laboratory, which is also in charge of the overall mission design and mission operations. Support for mission design is being provided by GSFC and by JPL. NASA's Deep Space Network will be utilized in tracking and communicating with the spacecraft. Following a recommendation of the COMPLEX committee of the Space Science Board, NASA will issue an NRA and appoint a formal science team in early 1993. Clementine is a 3-axis stabilized, 200 kg (dry weight) spacecraft that will be launched on a refurbished Titan-2G. One of the goals has been to build two spacecraft, including the sensors, for $100M. Total time elapsed from the decision to proceed to the launch will be two years.

Shoemaker, Eugene M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The Clementine Mission science return at the Moon and Geographos

The Clementine Mission is being built and flown by the Naval Research Laboratory under the sponsorship of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization of the United States Department of Defense in joint-cooperation with NASA, and will explore the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) 1620 Geographos with lightweight sensors developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A NASA Science Team for this mission will be selected by way of a NRA in April 1993. The instrument suite includes imaging cameras that cover a spectral range from the near-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared, a laser ranger, and, potentially, a charged particle telescope. To be launched in early 1994, Clementine will be in lunar orbit from February through May 1994, at which time it will depart the Moon for a flyby of 1620 Geographos in August 1994. This mission represents an outstanding opportunity for scientists interested in the Moon and asteroids. It is anticipated that the data returned from this mission will permit: an assessment of global lunar crustal heterogeneity and a resolution of less than 1 km; an assessment of the lithologic heterogeneity of Geographos at a scale of 100 m or better; and an assessment of surface processes on Geographos on the order of 10 m. The basic mission of Clementine and some of the key scientific questions that will be addressed are described. Additional material on the Clementine mission, its data handling and processing, and its instrument suite is presented elsewhere.

Vorderbruegge, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Overview of microphysical and state parameter measurements from FIRE 2

In this article we present data collected by the NCAR King Air and Sabreliner aircraft in the FIRE 2 cirrus project over southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in Nov. and Dec. of 1991. We present state parameter and microphysical measurements in summary form for the dates which have been selected by the FIRE Science Team for intensive analysis, 25 and 26 Nov. and 5 and 6 Dec. We will also evaluate the performance of 'key' aircraft instrumentation.

Heymsfield, Andrew J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

SeaWiFS technical report series. Volume 20: The SeaWiFS bio-optical archive and storage system (SeaBASS), part 1

This document provides an overview of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Bio-Optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS), which will serve as a repository for numerous data sets of interest to the SeaWiFS Science Team and other approved investigators in the oceanographic community. The data collected will be those data sets suitable for the development and evaluation of bio-optical algorithms which include results from SeaWiFS Intercalibration Round-Robin Experiments (SIRREXs), prelaunch characterization of the SeaWiFS instrument by its manufacturer -- Hughes/Santa Barbara Research Center (SBRC), Marine Optical Characterization Experiment (MOCE) cruises, Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) deployments and refurbishments, and field studies of other scientists outside of NASA. The primary goal of the data system is to provide a simple mechanism for querying the available archive and requesting specific items, while assuring that the data is made available only to authorized users. The design, construction, and maintenance of SeaBASS is the responsibility of the SeaWiFS Calibration and Validation Team (CVT). This report is concerned with documenting the execution of this task by the CVT and consists of a series of chapters detailing the various data sets involved. The topics presented are as follows: 1) overview of the SeaBASS file architecture, 2) the bio-optical data system, 3) the historical pigment database, 4) the SIRREX database, and 5) the SBRC database.

Hooker, Stanford B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

SeaWiFS technical report series. Volume 25: Ocean optics protocols for SeaWiFS validation, revision 1

This report presents protocols for measuring optical properties, and other environmental variables, to validate the radiometric performance of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), and to develop and validate bio-optical algorithms for use with SeaWiFS data. The protocols are intended to establish foundations for a measurement strategy to verify the challenging SeaWiFS uncertainty goals of 5 percent in water-leaving radiances and 35 percent in chlorophyll alpha concentration. The protocols first specify the variables which must be measured, and briefly review the rationale for measuring each variable. Subsequent chapters cover detailed protocols for instrument performance specifications, characterizing and calibrating instruments, methods of making measurements in the field, and methods of data analysis. These protocols were developed at a workshop sponsored by the SeaWiFS Project Office (SPO) and held at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California (9-12 April 1991). This report began as the proceedings of the workshop, as interpreted and expanded by the authors and reviewed by workshop participants and other members of the bio-optical research community. The protocols are an evolving prescription to allow the research community to approach the unprecedented measurement uncertainties implied by the SeaWiFS goals; research and development are needed to improve the state-of-the-art in specific areas. These protocols should be periodically revised to reflect technical advances during the SeaWiFS Project cycle. The present edition (Revision 1) incorporates new protocols in several areas, including expanded protocol descriptions for Case-2 waters and other improvements, as contributed by several members of the SeaWiFS Science Team.

Hooker, Stanford B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

LDEF materials results for spacecraft applications: Executive summary

To address the challenges of space environmental effects, NASA designed the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) for an 18-month mission to expose thousands of samples of candidate materials that might be used on a space station or other orbital spacecraft. LDEF was launched in April 1984 and was to have been returned to Earth in 1985. Changes in mission schedules postponed retrieval until January 1990, after 69 months in orbit. Analyses of the samples recovered from LDEF have provided spacecraft designers and managers with the most extensive data base on space materials phenomena. Many LDEF samples were greatly changed by extended space exposure. Among even the most radially altered samples, NASA and its science teams are finding a wealth of surprising conclusions and tantalizing clues about the effects of space on materials. Many were discussed at the first two LDEF results conferences and subsequent professional papers. The LDEF Materials Results for Spacecraft Applications Conference was convened in Huntsville to discuss implications for spacecraft design. Already, paint and thermal blanket selections for space station and other spacecraft have been affected by LDEF data. This volume synopsizes those results.

Whitaker, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The 1994 TIMS airborne calibration experiment: Castaic Lake, California

This summary describes the 9 March 1994 Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) airborne calibration experiment conducted at Castaic Lake, California. This experiment was a collaborative effort between the TIMS and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) science teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). TIMS was flown on the NASA/Ames Research Center C130 with the new retractable air fence installed in the TIMS instrument bay. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the fence would reduce the air turbulence in the TIMS instrument bay, thereby reducing the errors in calibration caused by wind-blast cooling of the blackbody reference sources internal to TIMS. Previous experiments have indicated that the wind blast effect could cause TIMS to over-estimate surface temperatures by more than 10 C. We have examined the TIMS data from twelve lines flown over Castaic Lake. Four of the lines were flown at an altitude of approximately 2.5 km (MSL), four at an altitude of approximately 6.7 km, and four at approximately 8.3 km. At each altitude there were flights with northern and southern headings, with the aircraft level and at a positive pitch (nose-up attitude). The suite of twelve flights was designed to subject the TIMS/air fence system to different wind conditions and air temperatures. The TIMS flights were supported by a ground-truth team, who measured lake surface temperatures from a boat, and an atmosphere characterization team, who launched an airsonde and measured solar irradiance with a Reagan Sun Photometer. The Reagan measurements were used to construct a time-series of estimates of the total abundance of water vapor in the atmospheric column. These estimates were used to constrain modifications of the airsonde water vapor profile measurements made when processing the TIMS data with a customized version of the MODTRAN radiative transfer code.

Realmuto, Vincent J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

TOPEX/POSEIDON mission overview

TOPEX/POSEIDON is the first space mission specifically designed and conducted for studying the circulation of the world's oceans. A state-of-the-art radar altimetry system is used to measure the precise height of sea level, from which information on the ocean circulation is obtained. The satellite, launched on August 10, 1992, has been making observations of the global oceans with unprecedented accuracy since late September 1992. To meet the stringent measurement accuracy required for ocean circulation studies, a number of innovative improvements have been made to the mission design, including the first dual-frequency space-borne radar altimeter capable of retrieving the ionospheric delay of the radar signal, a three-frequency microwave radiometer for retrieving the signal delay caused by the water vapor in the troposphere, an optimal model of the Earth's gravity field and multiple satellite tracking systems for precision orbit determination. Additionally, the satellite also carries two experimental instruments to demonstrate new technologies: a single-frequency solid-state altimeter for the technology of low-power, low-weight altimeter and a Global Positioning System receiver for continuous,precise satellite tracking. The performance of the mission's measurement system has been tested by numerous verification studies. The results indicate that the root-sum-square accuracy of a single-pass sea level measurement is 4.7 cm for the TOPEX system and 5.1 cm for the POSEIDON system; both are more than a factor of 2 better than the requirement of 13.7 cm. This global data set is being analyzed to improve understanding of the global ocean circulation as well as the ocean tides, geodesy, and geodynamics, and ocean wind and waves. The mission is designed to last for at least 3 years with a possible extension to 6 years. The multiyear global data set will go a long way toward understanding the ocean circulation and its variability in relation to climate change. A summary of the mission's systems and their performance as well as the mission's science team is presented.

Fu, Lee-Lueng↗
NASA NTRS1993

Land surface temperature measurements from EOS MODIS data

The task objectives of this reporting phase included: (1) completing the draft of the LST Algorithms Theoretical Basic Document by July 30, 1993; (2) making a detailed characterization of the thermal infrared measurement system including spectrometer, blackbody, and radiation sources; (3) making TIR spectral measurements of water and snow-cover surfaces with the MIDAC M2401 spectrometer; and (4) making conceptual and engineering design of an accessory system for spectrometric measurements at variable angles. These objectives are based on the requirements by the MODIS Science Team and the unique challenge in the development of MODIS LST algorithms: to acquire accurate spectral emissivity data of land covers in the near-term and to make ground validations of the LST product in the long-term with a TIR measurement system.

Wan, Zhengming↗
NASA NTRS1995

Data management and scientific integration within the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program has been developed by the U.S. Department of Energy with the goal to improve the predictive capabilities of General Circulation Models (GCM's) in their treatment of clouds and radiative transfer effects. To achieve this goal, three experimental testbeds were designed for the deployment of instruments that will collect atmospheric data used to drive the GCM's. Each site, known as a Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART), consists of a highly available, redundant data system for the collection of data from a variety of instrumentation. The first CART site was deployed in April 1992 in the Southern Great Plains (SGP), Lamont, Oklahoma, with the other two sites to follow in September 1995 in the Tropical Western Pacific and in 1997 on the North Slope of Alaska. Approximately 400 MB of data are transferred per day via the Internet from the SGP site to the ARM Experiment Center at Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington. The Experiment Center is central to the ARM data path and provides for the collection, processing, analysis, and delivery of ARM data. Data are received from the CART sites from a variety of instrumentation, observational systems, amd external data sources. The Experiment Center processes these data streams on a continuous basis to provide derived data products to the ARM Science Team in near real-time while providing a three-month running archive of data. A primary requirement of the ARM Program is to preserve and protect all data produced or acquired. This function is performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where leading edge technology is employed for the long-term storage of ARM data. The ARM Archive provides access to data for participation outside of the ARM Program. The ARM Program involves a collaborative effort by teams from various DOE National Laboratories, providing multi-disciplinary areas of expertise. This paper will discuss the collaborative methods in which the ARM teams translate the scientific goals of the Program into data products. By combining atmospheric scientists, systems engineers, and software engineers, the ARM Program has successfully designed and developed an environment where advances in understanding the parameterizations of GCM's can be made.

Gracio, Deborah K.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite Validation Workshop III: Temperature and Constituents Validation

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was launched in September 1991. Since that time data have been retrieved continuously from the various instruments on the UARS spacecraft. These data have been processed by the respective instrument science teams and subsequently archived in the UARS Central Data Handling Facility (CDHF) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. This report contains the proceedings from one of the three workshops held to evaluate the progress in validating UARS constituents and temperature data and to document the quality of that data. The first workshop was held in Oxford, England, in March 1992, five and one-half months after UARS launch. The second workshop was held in Boulder, Colorado in October 1992. Since launch, the various data have undergone numerous revisions. In many instances these revisions are a result of data problems identified during the validation workshops. Thus, the formal validation effort is a continually ongoing process.

Grose, William L.↗
NASA NTRS1996

EOS Laser Atmosphere Wind Sounder (LAWS) investigation

In this final report, the set of tasks that evolved from the Laser Atmosphere Wind Sounder (LAWS) Science Team are reviewed, the major accomplishments are summarized, and a complete set of resulting references provided. The tasks included preparation of a plan for the LAWS Algorithm Development and Evolution Laboratory (LADEL); participation in the preparation of a joint CNES/NASA proposal to build a space-based DWL; involvement in the Global Backscatter Experiments (GLOBE); evaluation of several DWL concepts including 'Quick-LAWS', SPNDL and several direct detection technologies; and an extensive series of system trade studies and Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSE's). In this report, some of the key accomplishments are briefly summarized with reference to interim reports, special reports, conference/workshop presentations, and publications.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1996

Packaging and distributing ecological data from multisite studies

Studies of global change and other regional issues depend on ecological data collected at multiple study areas or sites. An information system model is proposed for compiling diverse data from dispersed sources so that the data are consistent, complete, and readily available. The model includes investigators who collect and analyze field measurements, science teams that synthesize data, a project information system that collates data, a data archive center that distributes data to secondary users, and a master data directory that provides broader searching opportunities. Special attention to format consistency is required, such as units of measure, spatial coordinates, dates, and notation for missing values. Often data may need to be enhanced by estimating missing values, aggregating to common temporal units, or adding other related data such as climatic and soils data. Full documentation, an efficient data distribution mechanism, and an equitable way to acknowledge the original source of data are also required.

Information Systems↗
NASA NTRS1997

EOS Contract Report: The ASTER and MODIS Projects

Three major tasks occupied the group's efforts during this six months. The first was measuring the bidirectional reflectance properties of four reflectance samples provided by NIST. S. Biggar and P. Spyak made these measurements in both the VNIR and SWIR. The second major task was the group's move to a new facility in March. This required that our calibration laboratory and blacklab be disassembled and reassembled in addition to moving offices and other equipment. The third task was the joint vicarious calibration that took place the latter half of June. This campaign included two weeks of laboratory measurements by the RSG and nine days in the field. Other work during the past six months consisted of Science Team support activities including the attendance at meetings related to MODIS and ASTER. In addition, K. Scott continued work on the cross-calibration software package by developing a graphical interface to 6S, an uncertainty analysis code, and an image registration module. M. Sicard used a trip to Cimel in France to change the Cimel TIR radiometer's field of view and then characterized this new field of view. Z. Rouf and Z. Murshalin processed radiance-based data from last summer's Lunar Lake campaign.

Slater, P.↗
NASA NTRS1997

STS-83 Day 03

On this third day of the STS-83 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. James D. Halsell Jr., Pilot Susan L. Still, Payload Cmdr. Janice E. Voss, Mission Specialists Michael L. Gernhardt and Donald A. Thomas, and Payload Specialist Gregory T. Linteris and Roger K. Crouch continue to conduct experiments. The crew of the Microgravity Science Laboratory mission has successfully activated all Spacelab facilities with help from the science teams on the ground.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1997

CERES and the S'COOL Project

The first Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument will be launched on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft from a Japanese launch site in November 1997. This instrument is a follow-on to the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) begun in the 1980's. The instrument will measure the radiation budget - incoming and outgoing radiant energy - of the Earth. It will establish a baseline and look for climatic trends. The major feature of interest is clouds, which play a very strong role in regulating our climate. CERES will identify clear and cloudy regions and determine cloud physical and microphysical properties using imager data from a companion instrument. Validation efforts for the remote sensing algorithms will be intensive. As one component of the validation, the S'COOL (Students' Cloud Observations On-Line) project will involve school children from around the globe in making ground truth measurements at the time of a CERES overpass. Their observations will be collected at the NASA Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) and made available over the Internet for educational purposes as well as for use by the CERES Science Team in validation efforts. Pilot testing of the S'COOL project began in January 1997 with two local schools in Southeastern Virginia and one remote site in Montana. This experience is helping guide the development of the S'COOL project. National testing is planned for April 1997, international testing for July 1997, and global testing for October 1997. In 1998, when the CERES instrument is operational, a global observer network should be in place providing useful information to the scientists and learning opportunities to the students.

Chambers, Lin H.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Science in the Stratosphere

The Science in the Stratosphere program, first established in 1992, was conceived to introduce K-6 teachers to airborne infrared astronomy through the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), and to use this venue as a basis for seeing scientists at work in a mission-intensive program. The teachers selected for this program would bring their new perspectives back to their schools and students. Unlike the related FOSTER program, the emphasis of this program was on more intensive exposure of the KAO mission to a small number of teachers. The teachers in the Science in the Stratosphere program essentially lived with the project scientists and staff for almost a week. One related goal was to imbed the KAO project with perspectives of working teachers, thereby sensitizing the project staff and scientists to educational outreach efforts in general, which is an important goal of the NASA airborne astronomy program. A second related goal was to explore the ways in which K-5 educators could participate in airborne astronomy missions. Also unlike FOSTER, the Science in the Stratosphere program was intentionally relatively unstructured, in that the teacher participants were wholly embraced by the science team, and were encouraged to 'sniff out' the flavor of the whole facility by talking with people.

Lester, Dan↗