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GFO and JASON Altimeter Engineering Assessment Report. Update: GFO-Acceptance to End of Mission on October 22, 2008, JASON-Acceptance to September 29, 2008

The purpose of this document is to present and document GEOSAT Follow-On (GFO) performance analyses and results. This is the ninth Assessment Report since the initial report and is our final one. This report extends the performance assessment since acceptance on November 29, 2000 to the end of mission (EOM) on October 22, 2008. Since launch, February 10, 1998 to the EOM, we performed a variety of GFO performance studies; Appendix A provides an accumulative index of those studies. We began the inclusion of analyses of the JASON altimeter after the end of the Topographic Experiment (TOPEX) mission. Prior to this, JASON and TOPEX were compared during our assessment of the TOPEX altimeter. With the end of the TOPEX mission, we developed methods to report on JASON as it related to GFO. It should be noted the GFO altimeter, after operating for over 7 years, was power cycled off to on and on to off approximately 14 times a day for over 18 months in space with no failure. The GFO altimeter proved to be a remarkable instrument providing stable ocean surface measurements for nearly eight years. This report completes our GFO altimeter performance assessment.

Conger, A. M.↗

Launch Complex 39A, SWMU 008 2023 Long-Term Monitoring Report Kennedy Space Center, Florida

The 2023 Long-Term Monitoring (LTM) Report (LTMR) presents the annual and semi-annual groundwater monitoring results for Launch Complex 39A (LC39A), Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) 008, at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The reporting period covered under this LTMR is from January to December 2023, and represents the first year of site-wide monitoring following Air Sparge (AS) system shutdown at the end of 2022. AS system operation at LC39A began operation in 2015. The AS system consisted of a total of 173 AS wells ranging in depth from 11 to 37 feet below land surface. The overall remedial objective for the AS Interim Measure was to actively decrease concentrations of COCs to less than their respective Florida Department of Environmental Protection Natural Attenuation Default Concentrations, so that LC39A can transition into an LTM program. This objective was achieved in 2022, with 2023 marking Year 1 of the LTM program to monitor the residual groundwater plume. VOC results indicate that COC concentrations have continued to decrease or stabilize, with no rebound observed since AS system shutdown. Vinyl chloride was the only COC detected above its GCTL, with the highest concentration detected at 8.0 μg/L. PFAS results detected 15 different PFAS compounds (out of 32 analyzed) between the six monitoring wells sampled. Two PFAS compounds, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), currently have FDEP Provisional GCTLs of 70 nanograms per liter (ng/L). PFOS was detected in one of the six samples above the FDEP Provisional GCTL at a concentration of 200 ng/L. PFOA was not detected above the FDEP Provisional GCTL in any of the six samples. PFOS and PFOA also currently have United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) of 4 ng/L. PFOS was detected in all six samples above the USEPA MCL. PFOA was detected in three of the six samples above the USEPA MCL. Three other PFAS compounds, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluoro-n-nonanoic acid (PFNA), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (GenX), currently have USEPA MCLs of 10 ng/L. PFHxS, PFNA, and GenX were not detected at concentrations greater than their respective USEPA MCLs in any of the six wells. Additional PFAS sampling will occur as part of a PFAS Site Assessment to be conducted in the future. Based on Year 1 LC39A LTM results, recommendations for 2024 are to continue with the second year of LTM in 2024 with the same monitoring well network as Year 1 (18 wells). The three wells that were on a semi-annual schedule will transition to an annual schedule to align with the remaining wells. The next annual event is scheduled for May 2024. The three wells that were found to be inadvertently destroyed will be properly abandoned and a replacement well in the vicinity of former monitoring well 21ST-MW0030I will be installed. This new well will be added to the LTM sampling plan upon installation.

Deborah M. Wilson↗

Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) Program

Six years ago, the Defense Science Board (DSB) initiated a review of the concept, technical basis, program content, and missions of the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) program. The report was completed in Sep. 1988, and the recommendations contributed to strengthening the technical efforts in the NASP program. Since then, substantial technological progress has been made in the technology development phase (Phase 2) of the program. Phase 2 of the program is currently scheduled to end in late Fiscal Year 1993, with a decision whether to proceed to the experimental flight vehicle phase (Phase 3) to be made at that time. This decision will be a very significant one for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In February of this year, the DSB was chartered to revisit the NASP program to assess the degree to which the many technical challenges of the program have been resolved, or are likely to be resolved by the end of Phase 2.

Source record↗

Energetic radiations from solar flares

An experiment designed to measure energetic X-rays, electrons, protons and alpha particles from solar flares aboard OGO 5 is reported. A brief statement of the objectives of the experiment is followed by a description of the instrumentation including detector characteristics and associated electronics. The data handling system is then described and the operational history of the experiment is discussed. This is followed by a description of the format of the magnetic data tapes and a summary of the major computer processing programs. The measurements made with this experiment within the first year of its operation have led to several basic results regarding the role of non-thermal electrons in the physics of solar flares. These results are described in the papers listed in the bibliography given at the end of this report.

Anderson, K. A.↗

The Activity Profiles and Peak Flux of Radar Meteor Showers

Meteor showers are transient phenomena; a limited duration is what distinguishes a shower from a sporadic source. They do not, however, have clear start and end times; instead, shower activity gradually (or rapidly) increases over time, reaches a peak, and then decays. In this report, we examine the activity profiles of 38 meteor showers using 20 years of single-station shower fluxes from the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). We find that a number of showers, such as the Southern delta Aquariids (SDAs), exhibit a broad maximum in activity rather than a sharp peak. We also find that approximately one-third of showers exhibit asymmetric activity profiles in which the rate in which activity rises prior to the peak differs from the rate at which it decays after the peak. We provide a functional form for meteor shower activity profiles that incorporates these features and use these profile fits to estimate each shower’s peak flux. This report also includes an uncertainty analysis for CMOR fluxes. This includes the first (to our knowledge) characterization of systematic uncertainty in radar meteor fluxes.

A V Moorhead↗

Modeling Studies of the Effects of Tropical Rainfall on Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions and Oceanic Hydrological Cycle

This research project is a joint effort of UMD/JCESS, NASA/GSFC, NOAA/PMEL and LDEO, with UMD/JCESS being the leader and LDEO being responsible for coupled modeling. Although the project as a whole is for three years, the LDEO part was terminated at the end of the second year because of a shift of focus. The detailed description of the whole project and the effort made at LDEO have been given in the two joint annual reports and the two annual reports from LDEO. Here we only provide a brief summary of what we have done here at LDEO and a list of publications that resulted partly from this project.

Chen, Dake↗

Temporal Variations in the Photosynthetic Biosphere

In this report, we describe results from the first three years of global Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean chlorophyll and land plant measurements. This time period covered the end of one of the largest El Nino events in the past century and a strong La Nina. During this transition, terrestrial plant photosynthesis exhibited only a small change, whereas a significant increase in oceanic photosynthesis was observed. Latitudinal distributions of ocean production indicated that this increase in photosynthesis during the La Nina was distributed in the equatorial belt as well as in high production areas. The analysis also illustrated the large 'missing bloom' in ocean phytoplankton in the southern ocean. While land photosynthesis remained fairly steady during the third year of SeaWiFS measurements, ocean phytoplankton production continued to increase, albeit at a lower rate than from 1997 to 1999. Our results represent the first quantification of interannual variability in global scale ocean productivity. Significant Findings: An increase in ocean production during the first three years of the SeaWiFS mission; a strong hemispheric difference in the latitudinal distribution of ocean photosynthesis.

Behrenfeld, Michael↗

Coordinating Center Report

This report summarizes the activities of the International Very Long Base Interferometry (VLBI) Service (IVS) Coordinating Center from the establishment of IVS to the end of 2000, and forecasts activities planned for the year 2001.

Vandenberg, Nancy R.↗

A Program to Detect and Characterize Extra-Solar Giant Planets

This is the final report for this NASA grant. Work under the first three years of the Grant (from May 1 2001 through April 30 2004) has been described in previous annual reports. Here we briefly summarize that work, and then focus on activities between May 1 2004 (the start of a 1-year no-cost extension period) and April 30 2005, the end of the Grant period.

Noyes, Robert W.↗

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Annual Report 2004

Once or twice in an age, a year comes along that the historians proclaim as an Annus Mirabilis - a year of wonders. For the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2004 was just that sort of time. From beginning to end, it was a nonstop experience of wondrous events in space. Imagine that two robot rovers embark on cross-country rambles across Mars, scrutinizing rocks for signs of past water on the now-arid world. A flagship spacecraft brakes into orbit at Saturn to begin longterm surveillance of the ringed world, preparing to drop a sophisticated probe to the surface of its haze-shrouded largest moon. Another craft makes the closest-ever pass by the nucleus of a comet, collecting sample particles as it goes. Two new space telescopes peer into the depths of the universe far beyond our solar system, viewing stars, nebulas and galaxies in invisible light beyond the spectrum our eyes can see. A pair of instruments is lofted on a NASA Earth-orbiting satellite to monitor air quality and the protective layer of ozone blanketing our home planet. A small probe brings samples of the solar wind to Earth for in-depth study. While JPL was absorbed with all of these ventures on other worlds, NASA and the White House unveiled an ambitious new plan of space exploration. The Vision for Space Exploration announced in January foresees a program of robotic and astronaut missions leading to a human return to the Moon by 2020, and eventual crewed expeditions to Mars. The vision also calls for more robotic missions to the moons of the outer planets; spaceborne observatories that will search for Earth-like planets around other stars and explore the formation and evolution of the universe; and continued study of our home planet. In order to accomplish all of this, NASA must perfect many as-yet-uninvented technologies and space transportation capabilities. JPL has a great deal to bring to this vision. Robotic exploration of Mars will lead the way for missions that will carry women and men to the red planet. Our engineers and scientists are formulating spacecraft that could use nuclear power to enable exploration missions of the future. And even now we are designing formations of space telescopes that will capture family portraits of the planets around neighboring stars. Those are only some of the ways that the Laboratory is contributing to NASA's broader goals. During 2004, JPL made a distinctive contribution to agencywide initiatives in areas such as safety, NASA transformation, the agency's Internet portal and NASA's Explorer Schools programs. Years like 2004 pose a special challenge for us. It would be easy to say that this was a once-in-a-decade high point of mission activities, but I believe that this would miss an opportunity. We are fortunate to have many space projects in the works that have the promise of being just as exhilarating as the great mission successes that we celebrated this year. The challenge and opportunity for us now is to make every year like this one.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS↗

Long-term modulation of cosmic rays during solar cycle 21

A preliminary result concerning the rigidity dependence of the longer-term solar cycle modulation is reported. The long-term modulation, using monthly mean intensities and referred to November 1977 as a normalizing level, appear to be in accordance with the exponent gamma = 1, provided only Brisbane and Hobart data are used. Darwin data do not conform to this pattern except perhaps during the early years of the cycle until about the end of 1980, since when the Darwin long-term intensity has been largely steady, apart from Forbush-type decreases and the as yet unidentified vector from the observed SI vector. The true SI vector of galactic origin can be obtained. The resultant vector has the amplitude of 0.031% and the phase of 2.3h. The present result seems to be consistent with those so far reported.

Fenton, A. G.↗

Documenting, Understanding, and Predicting the Aggregate Surface Radiation Fluxes for SHEBA

This document serves as a final report for NASA grant NAG5-8625 to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). The report covers work done at Boston University for the first two years of the project (as NAG5-4903) and the third and final year of the project at the University of Wisconsin (NAG5-8625). In 1999 the third year's funding and tasks were transferred to UW where the Principal Investigator (J. Key) is now stationed. A no-cost extension period of the grant ended on June 15, 2001. This is a group project with the University of Colorado (CU) as the lead institution, where Judith Curry is the Principal Investigator. The overall project is jointly funded by NASA and NSF. The progress reported herein is specific to Boston University and the University of Wisconsin.

Key, Jeffrey R.↗

NASA Space Geodesy Program: GSFC data analysis, 1992. Crustal Dynamics Project VLBI geodetic results, 1979 - 1991

The Goddard VLBI group reports the results of analyzing 1648 Mark 3 data sets acquired from fixed and mobile observing sites through the end of 1991, and available to the Crustal Dynamics Project. Two large solutions were used to obtain Earth rotation parameters, nutation offsets, radio source positions, site positions, site velocities, and baseline evolution. Site positions are tabulated on a yearly basis for 1979 to 1995, inclusive. Site velocities are presented in both geocentric Cartesian and topocentric coordinates. Baseline evolution is plotted for 200 baselines, and individual length determinations are presented for an additional 356 baselines. This report includes 155 quasar radio sources, 96 fixed stations and mobile sites, and 556 baselines.

Ryan, J. W.↗

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Thermal Power Model in Thermal Desktop SINDA/FLUINT Analyzer

This paper presents a three-dimensional Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) thermal power model that was built using the Thermal Desktop SINDA/FLUINT thermal analyzer. The model was correlated with ASRG engineering unit (EU) test data and ASRG flight unit predictions from Lockheed Martin's Ideas TMG thermal model. ASRG performance under (1) ASC hot-end temperatures, (2) ambient temperatures, and (3) years of mission for the general purpose heat source fuel decay was predicted using this model for the flight unit. The results were compared with those reported by Lockheed Martin and showed good agreement. In addition, the model was used to study the performance of the ASRG flight unit for operations on the ground and on the surface of Titan, and the concept of using gold film to reduce thermal loss through insulation was investigated.

Wang, Xiao-Yen↗

Antarctic Exploration Parallels for Future Human Planetary Exploration: A Workshop Report

Four Antarctic explorers were invited to a workshop at Johnson Space Center (JSC) to provide expert assessments of NASA's current understanding of future human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. These explorers had been on relatively sophisticated, extensive Antarctic expeditions with sparse or nonexistent support infrastructure in the period following World War II through the end of the International Geophysical Year. Their experience was similar to that predicted for early Mars or other planetary exploration missions. For example: one Antarctic a expedition lasted two years with only one planned resupply mission and contingency plans for no resupply missions should sea ice prevent a ship from reaching them; several traverses across Antarctica measured more than 1000 total miles, required several months to complete, and were made without maps (because they did not exist) and with only a few aerial photos of the route; and the crews of six to 15 were often international in composition. At JSC, the explorers were given tours of development, training, and scientific facilities, as well as documentation at operational scenarios for future planetary exploration. This report records their observations about these facilities and plans in answers to a series of questions provided to them before the workshop.

Hoffman, Stephen J.↗

Analysis of data from the plasma composition experiment on the International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE 1)

The Lockheed plasma composition experiment on the ISEE 1 spacecraft has provided one of the largest and most varied sets of data on earth's energetic plasma environment, covering both the solar wind, well beyond the bow shock, and the near equatorial magnetosphere to a distance of almost 23 earth radii. This report is an overview of the last four years of data analysis and archiving. The archiving for NSSDC includes most data obtained during the initial 28-months of instrument operation, from early November 1977 through the end of February 1980. The data products are a combination of spectra (mass and energy angle) and velocity moments. A copy of the data user's guide and examples of the data products are attached as appendix A. The data analysis covers three major areas: solar wind ions upstream and downstream of the day side bowshock, especially He(++) ions; terrestrial ions flowing upward from the auroral regions, especially H(+), O(+), and He(+) ions; and ions of both solar and terrestrial origins in the tail plasma sheet and lobe regions. Copies of publications are attached.

Lennartsson, O. W.↗

Millimeter-wave passive ultra-compact imaging technology for synthetic vision & mobile platforms

Substantial technical progress was made on all of the three high-risk subsystems of this program. The subsystems include dielectric antenna, G-band receiver, and electro-optic image processor. Progress is approximately on-schedule for both the receiver and the electro-optic processor development, while greater than anticipated challenges have been discovered in the dielectric antenna development. Much of the information in this report was covered in greater detail in the One-Year Review Meeting held at TTC on 22 February 1996. The performance goals of the dielectric antenna project are: Scan Angle -- 20 deg. desired; Loss -- 6 dB end to end (3 dB average); Frequency -- 206-218 GHz (6% bandwidth); Beam width -- 0.25 deg.; and Length -- 12 inches. The scan angle requirement was chosen to satisfy the needs of aircraft pilots. This requirement, coupled with the presently limited bandwidth processors (1 GHz state-of-the-art and 12 GHz in development in this program) forces the antenna to be dielectric (high scan angle air-filled waveguide-based antennas would be too lossy and their performance would vary too much as a function of frequency). A high dielectric constant (e.g., 10) was initially chosen for the dielectric material. This choice lead to the following fabrication challenges: total thickness variation (TTV) tolerance is 1 micrometer; coupler spacing tolerance is 1 micrometer; width tolerance is larger, but unknown, and the surfaces must have mirror finish. Also of importance is the difficulty in obtaining raw materials that satisfy the overall length requirement of 12 inches while simultaneously satisfying the above specifications.

Olsen, Randall↗

NASA Microgravity Research Program

The Fiscal Year 1998 Annual Report describes key elements of the NASA Microgravity Research Program. The Program's goals, approach taken to achieve those goals, and program resources are summarized. A review of the Program's status at the end of FY1998 and highlights of the ground- and-flight-based research are provided.

Woodard, Dan↗