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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Interplanetary Lyman-alpha observations with UVS on Voyager - Data, first analysis, implications for the ionization lifetime

A fraction of the measurements of the interplanetary Lyman-alpha background collected by the Ultraviolet Spectrometer during the cruise of Voyager 1 and 2 between 1977 and 1983 is presented and compared with results from current models of the interaction between the sun and the neutral interstellar gas. An analysis of two sets of data indicates that the same H atom lifetime cannot fit all the data. The actual ionization rate is inferred from the intensity gradient in the maximum emissivity region observed from a sidewind Voyager position at 6 AU, yielding a lifetime of about 1 exp 6 s at 1 AU, whereas the upwind/downwind intensity ratio in the inner solar system favors 2 x 10 exp 6 s, as measured by Voyager, Prognoz, and Pioneer Venus instruments. It is proposed that there is an excess of Ly-alpha emission in the downwind region which forces the model toward excessively high values of the lifetime. Possible explanations are discussed, like incorrect modeling or an additional source of H atoms.

Lallement, R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Lifetimes of bacteriochlorophyll fluorescence in Rhodopseudomonas viridis and Heliobacterium chlorum at low temperatures

Fluorescence lifetimes of isolated membranes of Rhodopseudomonas viridis were measured in the temperature range of 77 K to 25 K. At room temperature, the main component of the fluorescence decay of bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) b had a time constant of 50 ps. In contrast to other purple bacteria, the emission at low temperature was spectrally homogeneous and showed essentially single lifetimes of 140 ps at 77 K and 180 ps at 25 K, with the primary electron donor in the oxidized state. Taking into account the relative fluorescence yields with open and closed reaction centers, we arrive at numbers of 125 ps and 215 ps, respectively, for open reaction centers. These numbers are significantly smaller than expected on the basis of measurements of the efficiency of charge separation, perhaps suggesting that the excitation decay in the absence of reaction centers is considerably faster at low temperature than at room temperature. At least four different spectral components with different lifetimes were observed at 25 K in the emission of Heliobacterium chlorum, a short-wavelength component of about 30 ps and three longer-wavelength components of about 100 ps, 300 ps, and 900 ps. This indicates a strong heterogeneity in the emitting pigment, BChl g-808. The component with the shortest lifetime does not appear to be affected by the redox state of the reaction center and might reflect energy transfer to BChl g species which are connected to the reaction center.

NASA Discipline Number 52-30↗
NASA NTRS2000

Process for Ignition of Gaseous Electrical Discharge Between Electrodes of a Hollow Cathode Assembly

The design and manufacturing processes for Hollow Cathode Assemblies (HCA's) that operate over a broad range of emission currents up to 30 Amperes, at low potentials, with lifetimes in excess of 17,500 hours. The processes include contamination control procedures which cover hollow cathode component cleaning procedures, gas feed system designs and specifications, and hollow cathode activation and operating procedures to thereby produce cathode assemblies that have demonstrated stable and repeatable operating conditions, for both the discharge current and voltage. The HCA of this invention provides lifetimes of greater than 10,000 hours, and expected lifetimes of greater than 17,500 hours, whereas the present state-of-the-art is less than 500 hours at emission currents in excess of 1 Ampere. Stable operation is provided over a large range of operating emission currents, up to a 6:1 ratio, and this HCA can emit electron currents of up to 30 Amperes in magnitude to an external anode that simulates the current drawn to a space plasma, at voltages of less than 20 Volts.

Patterson, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Design and Manufacturing Processes of Long-Life Hollow Cathode Assemblies

The design and manufacturing processes for Hollow Cathode Assemblies (HCA's) that operate over a broad range of emission currents up to 30 Amperes, at low potentials, with lifetimes in excess of 17,500 hours. The processes include contamination control procedures which cover hollow cathode component cleaning procedures, gas feed system designs and specifications, and hollow cathode activation and operating procedures to thereby produce cathode assemblies that have demonstrated stable and repeatable operating conditions, for both the discharge current and voltage. The HCA of this invention provides lifetimes of greater than 10,000 hours, and expected lifetimes of greater than 17,500 hours, whereas the present state-of-the-art is less than 500 hours at emission currents in excess of 1 Ampere. Stable operation is provided over a large range of operating emission currents, up to a 6:1 ratio, and this HCA can emit electron currents of up to 30 Amperes in magnitude to an external anode that simulates the current drawn to a space plasma at voltages of less than 20 Volts.

Michael J Patterson↗
NASA NTRS2004

Process for testing a xenon gas feed system of a hollow cathode assembly

The design and manufacturing processes for Hollow Cathode Assemblies (HCA's) that operate over a broad range of emission currents up to 30 Amperes, at low potentials, with lifetimes in excess of 17,500 hours. The processes include contamination control procedures which cover hollow cathode component cleaning procedures, gas feed system designs and specifications, and hollow cathode activation and operating procedures to thereby produce cathode assemblies that have demonstrated stable and repeatable operating conditions, for both the discharge current and voltage. The HCA of this invention provides lifetimes of greater than 10,000 hours, and expected lifetimes of greater than 17,500 hours, whereas the present state-of-the-art is less than 500 hours at emission currents in excess of 1 Ampere. Stable operation is provided over a large range of operating emission currents, up to a 6:1 ratio, and this HCA can emit electron currents of up to 30 Amperes in magnitude to an external anode that simulates the current drawn to a space plasma, at voltages of less than 20 Volts.

Patterson, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Water Vapour Adjustments and Responses Differ Between Climate Drivers

Water vapour in the atmosphere is the source of a major climate feedback mechanism and potential increases in the availability of water vapour could have important consequences for mean and extreme precipitation. Future precipitation changes further depend on how the hydrological cycle responds to different drivers of climate change, such as greenhouse gases and aerosols. Currently, neither the total anthropogenic influence on the hydrological cycle nor that from individual drivers is constrained sufficiently to make solid projections. We investigate how integrated water vapour (IWV) responds to different drivers of climate change. Results from 11 global climate models have been used, based on simulations where CO2, methane, solar irradiance, black carbon (BC), and sulfate have been perturbed separately. While the global-mean IWV is usually assumed to increase by 7% per kelvin of surface temperature change, we find that the feedback response of IWV differs somewhat between drivers. Fast responses, which include the initial radiative effect and rapid adjustments to an external forcing, amplify these differences. The resulting net changes in IWV range from 6.4±0.9%K(exp -1) for sulfate to 9.8±2%K(exp -1) for BC. We further calculate the relationship between global changes in IWV and precipitation, which can be characterized by quantifying changes in atmospheric water vapour lifetime. Global climate models simulate a substantial increase in the lifetime, from 8.2±0.5 to 9.9±0.7d between 1986-2005 and 2081-2100 under a high-emission scenario, and we discuss to what extent the water vapour lifetime provides additional information compared to analysis of IWV and precipitation separately. We conclude that water vapour lifetime changes are an important indicator of changes in precipitation patterns and that BC is particularly efficient in prolonging the mean time, and therefore likely the distance, between evaporation and precipitation.

Hodnebrog, Øivind↗
NASA NTRS1980

Lasing characteristics of gas mixtures involving UFG: Application to nuclear pumping of lasers

Intense blue-green fluorescence from a structured band centered at lambda approximately 484 nm was observed from Ar, CF3I and NF3 gas mixtures excited by an electron beam. This emission was tentatively assigned to the E yields A transition of the iodine monofluoride (IF) molecule. The fluorescence efficiency of the IF(E yields A) band and the IF (E) state radiative lifetime were estimated to be approximately 6% and 15 ns, respectively. The emission band structure, the short IF(E) radiative lifetime and the Franck-Condon shift between the E and A states suggest that IF is an attractive candidate for a blue-green laser.

Verdeyen, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Global average concentration and trend for hydroxyl radicals deduced from ALE/GAGE trichloroethane (methyl chloroform) data for 1978-1990

An optimal estimation inversion scheme is utilized with atmospheric data and emission estimates to determined the globally averaged CH3CCl3 tropospheric lifetime and OH concentration. The data are taken from atmospheric measurements from surface stations of 1,1,1-trichloroethane and show an annual increase of 4.4 +/- 0.2 percent. Industrial emission estimates and a small oceanic loss rate are included, and the OH concentration for the same period (1978-1990) are incorporated at 1.0 +/- 0.8 percent/yr. The positive OH trend is consistent with theories regarding OH and ozone trends with respect to land use and global warming. Attention is given to the effects of the ENSO on the CH3CCl3 data and the assumption of continuing current industrial anthropogenic emissions. A novel tropical atmospheric tracer-transport mechanism is noted with respect to the CH3CCl3 data.

Prinn, R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

High-thrust and low-power operation of a 30-cm-diameter mercury ion thruster

An investigation of a 30-cm-diameter mercury ion thruster designed for high-thrust and low-power operation is described. Experimental results are presented which indicate that good performance and long lifetime are achieved by using a boundary magnetic field arrangement to confine the ionizing electrons. Details of advanced ion-optics designs are discussed, and performance measurements obtained with an advanced two-grid ion-optics assembly are presented. Scaling of the state-of-the-art hollow cathode for higher emission-current capability is described, and performance and lifetime measurements are presented for the scaled cathode.

Beattie, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Continental sources of halocarbons and nitrous oxide

Estimates of continental sources of CFC-11, CFC-12, CCl4, CH3CCl3 and N2O are derived from the atmospheric lifetime experiment in Adrigole, Ireland, and anthropogenic emissions of CCl4 and N2O from Europe have been identified. Relative source strengths are consistent with global budgets for the halocarbons and N2O. Different industrial release patterns for halocarbons are observed for Europe, the western United States and Australia.

Prather, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

SO2 over Central China: Measurements, Numerical Simulations and the Tropospheric Sulfur Budget

SO2 in central China was measured in situ from an aircraft and remotely using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) from the Aura satellite; results were used to develop a numerical tool for evaluating the tropospheric sulfur budget - sources, sinks, transformation and transport. In April 2008, measured ambient SO2 concentrations decreased from approx.7 ppbv near the surface to approx. 1 ppbv at 1800 m altitude (an effective scale height of approx.800 m), but distinct SO2 plumes were observed between 1800 and 4500 m, the aircraft's ceiling. These free tropospheric plumes play a major role in the export of SO2 and in the accuracy of OMI retrievals. The mean SO2 column contents from aircraft measurements (0.73 DU, Dobson Units) and operational OMI SO2 products (0.63+/-0.26 DU) were close. The OMI retrievals were well correlated with in situ measurements (r = 0.84), but showed low bias (slope = 0.54). A new OMI retrieval algorithm was tested and showed improved agreement and bias (r = 0.87, slope = 0.86). The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to simulate sulfur chemistry, exhibiting reasonable agreement (r = 0.62, slope = 1.33) with in situ SO2 columns. The mean CMAQ SO2 loading over central and eastern China was 54 kT, approx.30% more than the estimate from OMI SO2 products, 42 kT. These numerical simulations, constrained by observations, indicate that ",50% (35 to 61 %) of the anthropogenic sulfur emissions were transported downwind, and the overall lifetime of tropospheric SO2 was 38+/-7 h.

He, Hao↗
NASA NTRS2014

Global Distribution and Trends of Tropospheric Ozone: An Observation-Based Review

Tropospheric ozone plays a major role in Earth's atmospheric chemistry processes and also acts as an air pollutant and greenhouse gas. Due to its short lifetime, and dependence on sunlight and precursor emissions from natural and anthropogenic sources, tropospheric ozone's abundance is highly variable in space and time on seasonal, interannual and decadal time-scales. Recent, and sometimes rapid, changes in observed ozone mixing ratios and ozone precursor emissions inspired us to produce this up-to-date overview of tropospheric ozone's global distribution and trends. Much of the text is a synthesis of in situ and remotely sensed ozone observations reported in the peer-reviewed literature, but we also include some new and extended analyses using well-known and referenced datasets to draw connections between ozone trends and distributions in different regions of the world. In addition, we provide a brief evaluation of the accuracy of rural or remote surface ozone trends calculated by three state-of-the-science chemistry-climate models, the tools used by scientists to fill the gaps in our knowledge of global tropospheric ozone distribution and trends.

Mixing ratios↗
NASA NTRS2016

Searching for Decaying Dark Matter in Deep XMM-Newton Observation of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal

We present results of a search for the 3.5 keV emission line in our recent very long (approx. 1.4 Ms) XMM-Newton observation of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The astrophysical X-ray emission from such dark matter-dominated galaxies is faint, thus they provide a test for the dark matter origin of the 3.5 keV line previously detected in other massive, but X-ray bright objects, such as galaxies and galaxy clusters. We do not detect a statistically significant emission line from Draco; this constrains the lifetime of a decaying dark matter particle to tau >(7-9) × 10(exp 27) s at 95% CL (combining all three XMM-Newton cameras; the interval corresponds to the uncertainty of the dark matter column density in the direction of Draco). The PN camera, which has the highest sensitivity of the three, does show a positive spectral residual (above the carefully modeled continuum) at E = 3.54 +/- 0.06 keV with a 2.3(sigma) significance. The two MOS cameras show less-significant or no positive deviations, consistently within 1(sigma) with PN. Our Draco limit on tau is consistent with previous detections in the stacked galaxy clusters, M31 and the Galactic Centre within their 1 − 2(sigma) uncertainties, but is inconsistent with the high signal from the core of the Perseus cluster (which has itself been inconsistent with the rest of the detections). We conclude that this Draco observation does not exclude the dark matter interpretation of the 3.5 keV line in those objects.

dark matter↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Illustrating the Spatiotemporal Complexity of No2 Columns Using A Multi-Perspective Observing System: Moving Toward Geostationary Product Validation and Applications

As a precursor to secondary pollutants like ozone and PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is crucial to understand when addressing air quality issues. However, due to NO2’s short lifetime during the daytime and complexity of emission sources in urbanized regions, interpreting datasets from ground or satellite perspectives alone are challenged by variance in spatial and temporal resolutions. High resolution airborne mapping (< 1 km) of NO2 column densities across morning, midday, and afternoon add a unique perspective toward interpreting satellite data with respect to ground-measurements. This presentation focuses on the interpretation of spatiotemporal complexity of NO2 columns from the Synergistic TEMPO Air Quality Science Study (STAQS). The mission’s goal is to integrate geostationary observations from Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) with traditional and enhanced air quality monitoring to improve the understanding of air quality science for increased societal benefit. We will demonstrate the interweaved perspective of NO2 columns from ground-based Pandora spectrometers and satellite-based observations (e.g., TROPOMI) as compared to high spatial resolution airborne observations from the GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Airborne Simulator (GCAS). This includes the evaluation of each dataset through comparison to each other to identify potential biases in data products and the impact of heterogeneity on these comparisons. Airborne data will also be used as a proxy for geostationary observations with morning, midday, and afternoon raster maps collected over four cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and New York City). Finally, recent research outcomes will be presented to demonstrate how airborne and geostationary observations can be used to evaluate emission inventories and air quality models.

Laura Judd↗
NASA NTRS1976

Exciton coupling in molecular crystals

The implications of perfect exciton coupling and molecular vibrations were investigated, as well as the effect they have on the lifetime of singlet and triplet excitons coupled in a limiting geometry. Crystalline bibenzyl, Cl4Hl4, provided a situation in which these mechanisms involving exciton coupling can be studied in the limit of perfect coupling between units due to the crystal's geometry. This geometry leads to a coupling between the two halves of the molecule resulting in a splitting of the molecular excited states. The study reported involves an experimental spectroscopic approach and begins with the purification of the bibenzyl. The principal experimental apparatus was an emission spectrometer. A closed cycle cryogenic system was used to vary the temperature of the sample between 20 K and 300 K. The desired results are the temperature-dependent emission spectra of the bibenzyl; in addition, the lifetimes and quantum yields measured at each temperature reveal the effect of competing radiationless processes.

Ake, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Multimodel Estimates of Atmospheric Lifetimes of Long-lived Ozone-Depleting Substances: Present and Future

We have diagnosed the lifetimes of long-lived source gases emitted at the surface and removed in the stratosphere using six three-dimensional chemistry-climate models and a two-dimensional model. The models all used the same standard photochemical data. We investigate the effect of different definitions of lifetimes, including running the models with both mixing ratio (MBC) and flux (FBC) boundary conditions. Within the same model, the lifetimes diagnosed by different methods agree very well. Using FBCs versus MBCs leads to a different tracer burden as the implied lifetime contained in the MBC value does not necessarily match a model's own calculated lifetime. In general, there are much larger differences in the lifetimes calculated by different models, the main causes of which are variations in the modeled rates of ascent and horizontal mixing in the tropical midlower stratosphere. The model runs have been used to compute instantaneous and steady state lifetimes. For chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) their atmospheric distribution was far from steady state in their growth phase through to the 1980s, and the diagnosed instantaneous lifetime is accordingly much longer. Following the cessation of emissions, the resulting decay of CFCs is much closer to steady state. For 2100 conditions the model circulation speeds generally increase, but a thicker ozone layer due to recovery and climate change reduces photolysis rates. These effects compensate so the net impact on modeled lifetimes is small. For future assessments of stratospheric ozone, use of FBCs would allow a consistent balance between rate of CFC removal and model circulation rate

CFC↗
NASA NTRS2014

Multimodel Estimates of Atmospheric Lifetimes of Long-Lived Ozone-Depleting Substances: Present and Future

We have diagnosed the lifetimes of long-lived source gases emitted at the surface and removed in the stratosphere using six three-dimensional chemistry-climate models and a two-dimensional model. The models all used the same standard photochemical data. We investigate the effect of different definitions of lifetimes, including running the models with both mixing ratio (MBC) and flux (FBC) boundary conditions. Within the same model, the lifetimes diagnosed by different methods agree very well. Using FBCs versus MBCs leads to a different tracer burden as the implied lifetime contained in theMBC value does not necessarilymatch a model's own calculated lifetime. In general, there are much larger differences in the lifetimes calculated by different models, the main causes of which are variations in the modeled rates of ascent and horizontal mixing in the tropical midlower stratosphere. The model runs have been used to compute instantaneous and steady state lifetimes. For chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) their atmospheric distribution was far from steady state in their growth phase through to the 1980s, and the diagnosed instantaneous lifetime is accordingly much longer. Following the cessation of emissions, the resulting decay of CFCs is much closer to steady state. For 2100 conditions the model circulation speeds generally increase, but a thicker ozone layer due to recovery and climate change reduces photolysis rates. These effects compensate so the net impact on modeled lifetimes is small. For future assessments of stratospheric ozone, use of FBCs would allow a consistent balance between rate of CFC removal and model circulation rate.

CH3CCl3↗