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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 109 records · Page 6

Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the International Space Station (ISS): Launch, Installation, Activation and First Results

Mission: Fly a flight-spare LIS (Lightning Imaging Sensor) on ISS to take advantage of unique capabilities provided by the ISS (e.g., high inclination, real time data); Integrate LIS as a hosted payload on the DoD Space Test Program-Houston 5 (STP-H5) mission and launch on a Space X rocket for a minimum 2 year mission. Measurement: NASA and its partners developed and demonstrated effectiveness and value of using space-based lightning observations as a remote sensing tool; LIS measures lightning (amount, rate, radiant energy) with storm scale resolution, millisecond timing, and high detection efficiency, with no land-ocean bias. Benefit: LIS on ISS will extend TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) time series observations, expand latitudinal coverage, provide real time data to operational users, and enable cross-sensor calibration.

LIS↗

Results of examination of the A276 white and Z306 black thermal control paint disks flown on LDEF

Specimens of A276 white and Z306 black thermal control paints were analyzed for the effects of space environmental exposure as part of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) Materials Special Investigation Group activity. The specimens, actually disks or spots of paint on tray clamps, were located at regular intervals on all LDEF longerons and intercostals. The principle conclusions from the analysis are: UV exposure degraded the surface resin of A276 paint, with coating solar absorptance increasing with UV exposure; contamination, though detected, was not enough to have adversely affected optical properties; atomic oxygen eroded resin on specimens with incidence angles of up to 100 deg; the erosion of Z306 paint on leading edge specimens removed a minimum of 10 microns of that coating; and the erosion of A276 paint at up to 80 deg incidence angle resulted in near original condition solar absorptance readings.

Johnny L Golden↗

MCT Avalanche Photodiode Detector for Two-Micron Active Remote Sensing Applications

Mercury Cadmium Telluride electron initiated avalanche photodiodes demonstrated a breakthrough in lidar active remote sensing technology. A lidar detection system, based on an array of these devices, was integrated and characterized for 2-μm applications. Characterization experiments were focused on evaluating the dark current, gain and responsivity variations with bias voltage. Quantum efficiency and input dynamic range including noise-equivalent-power and maximum detectable power, were calculated from these results. Operating the detection system using four pixels at 77.6 K, 12 V bias resulted in a current responsivity of 615.8 A/W and a voltage responsivity of 1.45 GV/W. Minimum detectable power of 14 pW was obtained, which is equivalent to 5.7 fW/Hz(exp 1/2) noise-equivalent-power, indicating an average noise-equivalent-power of 1.4 fW/Hz(exp 1/2) per pixel. Work is in progress to integrate and validate this detection system using a newly developed triple-pulse integrated path differential absorption lidar for simultaneous and independent atmospheric measurements of water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Refaat, Tamer F.↗

Internal waves in the Gulf of California - Observations from a spaceborne radar

Pronounced signatures of internal waves were detected repeatedly in the Gulf of California by the Seasat synthetic aperture radar (SAR). A series of nine images with exactly repeating ground coverage was used to study the temporal variability of the internal wave field in the area. It was found that the number of observed wave groups was highly correlated with the strength of the local tides: the maximum number occurred during spring tides and the minimum number occurred during neap tides, indicating that the internal waves were tidally forced. Most of the wave activity was found to the north of 28 deg N where the tides were the strongest in the Gulf. The application of a simple, nonlinear internal wave model to the observations indicated that the peak-to-peak amplitude of the observed waves was about 50 m with an uncertainty of a factor of 2. The estimated upper bound for the rate of the loss of tidal energy to internal waves was about 5 x 10 to the 15th erg/s, representing only 10 percent of the rate of the dissipation of the dominant M2 tide in the Gulf.

Fu, L.-L.↗

Overview of physics results from the ADITYA-U tokamak and future experiments

The ADITYA upgrade (ADITYA-U), a medium-sized (R 0 = 75 cm, a = 25 cm) conventional tokamak facility in India, has been consistently producing experiments findings by usingcircular and shaped-plasmas. Recognizing the plasma parameters aligning closely with the design parameters of circular limited plasmas, ADITYA-U shifted its focus toward exploring the operational regime for experimentation on saw-tooth and MHD phenomena. Moreover, ADITYA-U has made consistent advancements toward conducting preliminary plasma shaping experiments through the activation of top and bottom divertor coils utilizing hydrogen as well as deuterium fuels. Confinement is improved by a factor of ~1.5 in D 2 plasmas when compared to H 2 plasmas of ADITYA-U. Further, ADITYA-U operations emphasize preventing disruptions and runaway electrons (REs) to ensure safe operations for future fusion devices. Significant suppression of REs has been achieved in ADITYA-U with the application of pulsed localized vertical magnetic field (LVF) perturbation, thereby establishing the technique's independence from the tokamak device. The successful RE mitigation requires a critical threshold of LVF pulse magnitude, which is approximately 1% of the toroidal magnetic field, and a minimum duration of ~5 ms. Apart from this, several novel findings have been achieved in the ADITYA-U experiments, including the modification of sawtooth duration through gas-puff, the emergence of MHD-induced geodesic acoustic mode-like oscillations, the propagation of fast heat pulses induced by MHD activity, the control of RE dynamics through Gas-puffs, the propagation of pinch-driven cold-pulses, the transport and core accumulations of argon impurities, the mass dependency of plasma toroidal rotation and the detection of 'RICE' scaling, as well as the characterization of edge plasma using wall conditioning methods, such as glow discharge cleaning using a combination of Ar-H 2 mixture, localized wall cleaning by electron cyclotron resonant plasma, and the development of machine learning-based disruption predictions, will be discussed in this paper.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

ROSAT all-sky survey observations of X-ray variability in cool giant stars

We have identified 24 active late-type giant stars, including 11 RS CVn systems, with soft X-ray count rates high enough to allow the detection of statistically significant variability on a Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) orbital timescale (96 minutes) as observed by the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) during the all-sky survey. Our sensitivity typically lies in the range of 10% - 25%, depending on the source count rate. Comparison is made to the daily, nonflare solar soft X-ray variability as observed by the Solrad satellites during solar minimum in 1969 and solar maximum in 1975. Seven of the 24 stars show significant variability; in two of these cases (HR 3922 and HR 8448) major flares were observed in which the peak count rate is enhanced by at least a factor of 3 above quiescent. While HR 3922 (G5 III) is not (yet) classified as an RS CVn star, its flare is more energetic (3 x 10(exp 31) ergs/s) than previously observed RS CVn flares. The apparently single giant HR 8167 (G8 III) also shows two flares. While one might expect to find an anticorrelation between saturated coronae and variability, we find no evidence of this: the two stars in our sample with the highest ratio of f(sub x)/f(sub v) both show variability. We also point out that Capella (G6 III + F9 III) is one of the stars manifesting variability.

Haisch, Bernhard↗

Survey for Life-related Species During a Planetary Surface Exploration; System Type I - UV Stimulated Fluorescent Sensor

The widely accepted minimum requirements for life on Earth include the presence of water and accessible sources of carbon. We assume that the same criteria must hold for putative life on past or present Mars. The evidence for CO2 and H2O at or near the Martian surface, carbon in Martian meteorites, aqueous alteration, and probable hydrothermal activity suggest that conditions conducive to the origin and evolution of life on Mars may have existed for long periods of time and may still obtain at present. Surface exploration on Mars that enables the direct detection of water in minerals and of organic carbon (including not just organic and biogenic materials but their degradation products such as kerogen-like hydrocarbons and graphitized carbon) that might be products or residues of biologic activity, is crucial. The search for evidence of life, past or present, will nevertheless be difficult. The lack of direct evidence for organic carbon and the low amounts of water found in the soils at the Viking sites demonstrated the difficulties. Recent results of GRS experiment of Odyssey mission indicated the existence of abundant water ice beneath the Mars surface. Mineralogical evidence for the presence of carbonate, sulfates, or clay minerals, products of weathering and aqueous deposition, have not been identified unambiguously on Mars. Rocks such as shales and, more particularly, limestones, which we associate with moist and benign environments on Earth, are evidently not abundant. Presumably, then, neither were the photosynthetic organisms that might have produced them. In addition, the harsh present environment on Mars (e.g., dryness, low temperatures, large temperature cycles, high level of UV light on the surface, frequent dust storms, etc.) can both destroy carbon- and water-bearing materials and hide them. Therefore, directly detecting life-related materials on Mars was likened to seeking and examining proverbial needles in haystacks. We argue that survey type instruments, that can frequently and quickly check a relatively large amount of material at many locations during a mission, are essential.

Wang, Alian↗

Cassini/CIRS Observations of Saturn's "Storm Alley"

In the Voyager era storms on Saturn were observed predominantly in the northern hemisphere, however, in recent years storm activity has been confined to a narrow range of latitudes referred to as "storm alley" (approx.40degS planetographic latitude). Throughout Cassini's prime mission storms have been detected by two independent instruments: ISS through dayside images and RPWS using radio emissions from Saturn Electrostatic Discharges (SED's) (Dyudina et al. 2007). Analysis of these storms indicates that the cloud tops are in the 200 - 500rnbar altitude range. During Saturn's Equinox, in August 2009, lSS imaged lightning on the night side in storm alley when ring-shine was at a minimum (Dyudina et al. 2010). This study indicates that lightning may have originated as deep as the water cloud. Decently, Cassini/CIRS was targeted at storm alley while a storm, originally detected by amateurs, was ongoing (March 2010). Phosphine can be used as a tracer of vertical transport because it is a disequilibrium species that falls off with altitude in the upper troposphere. CIRS can measure temperature and phosphine abundance independently in the altitude range where these cloud tops occur. Early analysis of these data shows stronger phosphine absorption at storm longitudes. This is an indication that powerful updrafts were dredging material upward into the upper troposphere. The results of the analysis of the March 2010 CIRS observations of storm alley will be presented.

Hesman, Brigette E.↗

Overview of Sense and Avoid/Separation Assurance Interoperability (SSI)

The UAS in the NAS project is studying the minimum operational performance standards for unmanned aerial systems (UAS's) detect-and-avoid (DAA) system in order to operate in the National Airspace System. The project is executing a series of fast-time simulation, human-in-the-loop experiments, and flight test in support of this effort. Officials of the Swiss Government (Peter Winter, Director of Aeronautical Systems, and Michel Godinat, Head of the Certification Office) are visiting NASA to become more familiar with the advances being made to integrate UAS into civilian airspace. This briefing will review the activities and results over the past 3 years within the Separation AssuranceSense-and-Avoid Interoperability team.

Santiago, Confesor↗

Implications of Gamma-Ray Transparency Constraints in Blazars: Minimum Distances and Gamma-Ray Collimation

We develop a general expression for the gamma - gamma absorption coefficient, alpha(sub gamma(gamma)) for gamma-rays propagating in an arbitrary direction at an arbitrary point in space above an X-ray-emitting accretion disk. The X-ray intensity is assumed to vary as a power law in energy and radius between the outer disk radius, R(sub 0), and the inner radius, R(sub ms) which is the radius of marginal stability for a Schwarzschild black hole. We use our result for alpha(sub gamma(gamma)) to calculate the gamma - gamma optical depth, tau(sub gamma(gamma)) for gamma - rays created at height z and propagating at angle Phi relative to the disk axis, and we show that for Phi = 0 and z greater than or approx equal to R(sub 0), tau(sub gamma(gamma)) proportional to Epsilon(sup alpha)z(sup -2(alpha) - 3), where alpha is the X-ray spectral index and Epsilon is the gamma - ray energy. As an application, we use our formalism to compute the minimum distance between the central black hole and the site of production of the gamma-rays detected by EGRET during the 1991 June flare of 3C 279. In order to obtain an upper limit, we assume that all of the X-rays observed contemporaneously by Ginga were emitted by the disk. Our results suggest that the observed gamma - rays may have originated within less than or approx equal to 45 GM/sq c from a black hole of mass greater than or approx equal to 10(exp 9) solar mass, perhaps in active plasma located above the central funnel of the accretion disk. This raises the possibility of establishing a direct connection between the production of the observed gamma - rays and the accretion of material onto the black hole. We also consider the variation of the optical depth as a function of the angle of propagation Phi. Our results indicate that the "focusing" of the gamma - rays along the disk axis due to pair production is strong enough to explain the observed degree of alignment in blazar sources. If the gamma - rays are produced isotropically in gamma - ray blazars, then these objects should appear as bright MeV sources when viewed along off-axis lines of sight.

Becker, Peter A.↗

Transduction-like gene transfer in the methanogen Methanococcus voltae

Strain PS of Methanococcus voltae (a methanogenic, anaerobic archaebacterium) was shown to generate spontaneously 4.4-kbp chromosomal DNA fragments that are fully protected from DNase and that, upon contact with a cell, transform it genetically. This activity, here called VTA (voltae transfer agent), affects all markers tested: three different auxotrophies (histidine, purine, and cobalamin) and resistance to BES (2-bromoethanesulfonate, an inhibitor of methanogenesis). VTA was most effectively prepared by culture filtration. This process disrupted a fraction of the M. voltae cells (which have only an S-layer covering their cytoplasmic membrane). VTA was rapidly inactivated upon storage. VTA particles were present in cultures at concentrations of approximately two per cell. Gene transfer activity varied from a minimum of 2 x 10(-5) (BES resistance) to a maximum of 10(-3) (histidine independence) per donor cell. Very little VTA was found free in culture supernatants. The phenomenon is functionally similar to generalized transduction, but there is no evidence, for the time being, of intrinsically viral (i.e., containing a complete viral genome) particles. Consideration of VTA DNA size makes the existence of such viral particles unlikely. If they exist, they must be relatively few in number;perhaps they differ from VTA particles in size and other properties and thus escaped detection. Digestion of VTA DNA with the AluI restriction enzyme suggests that it is a random sample of the bacterial DNA, except for a 0.9-kbp sequence which is amplified relative to the rest of the bacterial chromosome. A VTA-sized DNA fraction was demonstrated in a few other isolates of M. voltae.

Methanococcus/genetics/growth & development/metabo↗

Development and Implementation of Aseptic Operations for the MOMA-Mass Spectrometer

The ExoMars 2020 Rover is a life detection mission, and is classified as Planetary Protection (PP) Mission Category IVb, the first IVb mission since the Viking missions. Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer Mass Spectrometer (MOMA-MS) is a life detection instrument for the rover. To meet the stringent bioburden requirement of 0.03 spore/m2, the MS is subjected to Dry Heat Microbial Reduction (DHMR) to decrease the bioburden from a measured 88 spores/m2 to 0.009 spores/m2. After DHMR, exposure of the sample path must be kept to an absolute minimum and requires aseptic operations. Aseptic operations include determining the safe exposure time based on the surface area of exposure and particle fallout expected in the aseptic ISO class 5 workspace, preparing an aseptic ISO class 5 workspace, and using sterile garments and tools. During the exposure activity the environment is monitored with active and passive fallout for bioburden and real time airborne particle counts. Sterile tools are handled by a two person team so the operator touches only the tool and not the exterior surfaces of the sterilization pouch, and a sterile operating field is established as a safe place to organize tools or parts during the aseptic operations. In cases where aseptic operations are not feasible, localized DHMR is used after exposure. Any breach in the PP cleanliness can necessitate repeating instrument level DHMR, which not only has significant cost and schedule implications, but also is a risk to hardware that is not rated for repeated long exposures to high temperatures.

Aseptic processing↗

Potential Activities and Long Lifetimes of Organic Carbon-Degrading Extracellular Enzymes in Deep Subsurface Sediments of the Baltic Sea

Heterotrophic microorganisms in marine sediments produce extracellular enzymes to hydrolyze organic macromolecules, so their products can be transported inside the cell and used for energy and growth. Therefore, extracellular enzymes may mediate the fate of organic carbon in sediments. The Baltic Sea Basin is a primarily depositional environment with high potential for organic matter preservation. The potential activities of multiple organic carbon-degrading enzymes were measured in samples obtained by the International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 347 from the Little Belt Strait, Denmark, core M0059C. Potential maximum hydrolysis rates (V max ) were measured at depths down to 77.9mbsf for the following enzymes: alkaline phosphatase, β- d -xylosidase, β- d -cellobiohydrolase, N-acetyl-β- d -glucosaminidase, β-glucosidase, α-glucosidase, leucyl aminopeptidase, arginyl aminopeptidase, prolyl aminopeptidase, gingipain, and clostripain. Extracellular peptidase activities were detectable at depths shallower than 54.95mbsf, and alkaline phosphatase activity was detectable throughout the core, albeit against a relatively high activity in autoclaved sediments. β-glucosidase activities were detected above 30mbsf; however, activities of other glycosyl hydrolases (β-xylosidase, β-cellobiohydrolase, N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, and α-glucosidase) were generally indistinguishable from zero at all depths. These extracellular enzymes appear to be extremely stable: Among all enzymes, a median of 51.3% of enzyme activity was retained after autoclaving for an hour. We show that enzyme turnover times scale with the inverse of community metabolic rates, such that enzyme lifetimes in subsurface sediments, in which metabolic rates are very slow, are likely to be extraordinarily long. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests enzyme lifetimes are, at minimum, on the order of 230days, and may be substantially longer. These results lend empirical support to the hypothesis that a population of subsurface microbes persist by using extracellular enzymes to slowly metabolize old, highly degraded organic carbon.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Activity Cycles in Stars

Starspots and stellar activity can be detected in other stars using high precision photometric and spectrometric measurements. These observations have provided some surprises (starspots at the poles - sunspots are rarely seen poleward of 40 degrees) but more importantly they reveal behaviors that constrain our models of solar-stellar magnetic dynamos. The observations reveal variations in cycle characteristics that depend upon the stellar structure, convection zone dynamics, and rotation rate. In general, the more rapidly rotating stars are more active. However, for stars like the Sun, some are found to be inactive while nearly identical stars are found to be very active indicating that periods like the Sun's Maunder Minimum (an inactive period from 1645 to 1715) are characteristic of Sun-like stars.

Hathaway, David H.↗

A Coupled Approach for Structural Damage Detection with Incomplete Measurements

This historical work couples model order reduction, damage detection, dynamic residual/mode shape expansion, and damage extent estimation to overcome the incomplete measurements problem by using an appropriate undamaged structural model. A contribution of this work is the development of a process to estimate the full dynamic residuals using the columns of a spring connectivity matrix obtained by disassembling the structural stiffness matrix. Another contribution is the extension of an eigenvector filtering procedure to produce full-order mode shapes that more closely match the measured active partition of the mode shapes using a set of modified Ritz vectors. The full dynamic residuals and full mode shapes are used as inputs to the minimum rank perturbation theory to provide an estimate of damage location and extent. The issues associated with this process are also discussed as drivers of near-term development activities to understand and improve this approach.

James, George↗

Electrification in Hurricanes over the Tropical Americas: Implication for Stratospheric Water Vapor

This study explores the relation between lightning activity and water vapor in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) over hurricane systems in the Tropical Americas. The hypothesis herein is that hurricanes that exhibit enhanced lightning activity are associated with stronger updrafts that can transport more moisture directly into the TTL (and subsequently into the tropical stratosphere) or even directly into the tropical stratosphere over this region. The TTL over the Tropical Americas, which includes the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, is of particular interest, because summertime cold point tropopause is the lowest in height and thus the warmest in temperature over the tropics. The latter condition implies higher saturation values and thus potential for more water vapor to enter the stratosphere. Climate forecast is very sensitive to stratospheric water vapor abundance, because of the key role that water vapor plays in regulating the chemical and radiative properties of the stratosphere. Given the potential for increases in hurricane intensity and frequency under predicted warmer conditions, it becomes essential to understand the effect of hurricanes on stratospheric water vapor. In this study, we use a combination of ground and space-borne observations as well as trajectory calculations. The observations include: cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning data from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), geostationary infrared observations from the National Climatic Data Center Hurricane Satellite (HURSAT) data set, cloud properties from Aqua-MODIS, and water vapor from Aura-MLS. We analyze hurricanes from the 2005 season when Aura-MLS data are available, namely: Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Our analysis consists of examining CG lightning, cloud-top properties, and TTL water vapor (i.e., 100 and 147 mb) over the hurricane while it remains over water in the Tropical Americas region. We investigate daily as well as diurnal statistical properties. The hurricanes analyzed in this study showed that lightning activity is negatively correlated with minimum infrared brightness temperature and positively correlated with 100-mb water vapor. An examination of the maxima in water vapor observed over the hurricane not only shows larger magnitudes, but also larger differences between water vapor averages and water vapor maxima over the hurricane as lightning activity increases. Trajectory calculations are performed using the Flextra model in order to investigate the fate of the moister air masses found in the TTL.

Pittman, Jasna V.↗

A study of the cosmic sources of hard X-rays

An actively-shielded, high-energy X-ray telescope was launched onboard OSO-8 on 21 June 1975. The primary objectives of this experiment are the measurements of the energy spectrum of discrete cosmic X-ray sources in the range 20 keV to 3 MeV and of the temporal variations in the intensity of each source detected with a time resolution of 0.3 msec. This detector provides the highest duty factor and the finest time resolution of any of its kind for observations over a period of up to 10 days. The background spectrum of this detector in orbit was monitored continuously since shortly after launch. The minimum detectable source strength is estimated to be between 10,000 and 100,000 photons/sq-cm-sec keV, limited primary by the effects of induced radioactivity. From 16 July through 18 July 1975, the X-ray binary, Cen X-3, was observed with the hard X-ray telescope.

Dennis, B. R.↗

BOREAS AFM-12 1-km AVHRR Seasonal Land Cover Classification

The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) Airborne Fluxes and Meteorology (AFM)-12 team's efforts focused on regional scale Surface Vegetation and Atmosphere (SVAT) modeling to improve parameterization of the heterogeneous BOREAS landscape for use in larger scale Global Circulation Models (GCMs). This regional land cover data set was developed as part of a multitemporal one-kilometer Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) land cover analysis approach that was used as the basis for regional land cover mapping, fire disturbance-regeneration, and multiresolution land cover scaling studies in the boreal forest ecosystem of central Canada. This land cover classification was derived by using regional field observations from ground and low-level aircraft transits to analyze spectral-temporal clusters that were derived from an unsupervised cluster analysis of monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) image composites (April-September 1992). This regional data set was developed for use by BOREAS investigators, especially those involved in simulation modeling, remote sensing algorithm development, and aircraft flux studies. Based on regional field data verification, this multitemporal one-kilometer AVHRR land cover mapping approach was effective in characterizing the biome-level land cover structure, embedded spatially heterogeneous landscape patterns, and other types of key land cover information of interest to BOREAS modelers.The land cover mosaics in this classification include: (1) wet conifer mosaic (low, medium, and high tree stand density), (2) mixed coniferous-deciduous forest (80% coniferous, codominant, and 80% deciduous), (3) recent visible bum, vegetation regeneration, or rock outcrops-bare ground-sparsely vegetated slow regeneration bum (four classes), (4) open water and grassland marshes, and (5) general agricultural land use/ grasslands (three classes). This land cover mapping approach did not detect small subpixel-scale landscape features such as fens, bogs, and small water bodies. Field observations and comparisons with Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) suggest a minimum effective resolution of these land cover classes in the range of three to four kilometers, in part, because of the daily to monthly compositing process. In general, potential accuracy limitations are mitigated by the use of conservative parameterization rules such as aggregation of predominant land cover classes within minimum horizontal grid cell sizes of ten kilometers. The AFM-12 one-kilometer AVHRR seasonal land cover classification data are available from the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884).

Steyaert, Lou↗