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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1990

Balloon-Borne Measurements of Total Reactive Nitrogen, Nitric Acid, and Aerosol in the Cold Arctic Stratosphere

Total reactive nitrogen (NO(Y)) between 15 and 29 km was measured for the first time on board a balloon within the Arctic cold vortex. Observations of HNO3, aerosol, and ozone were made by instruments on the same balloon gondola which was launched from Esrange, Sweden (68 deg N, 20 deg E) on January 23, 1989. The NO(y) mixing ratio was observed to increase very rapidly from 6 ppbv at 18 km altitude to a maximum of 21 ppbv at 21 km, forming a sharp layer with a thickness of about 2 km. A minimum in the NO(y) mixing ratio of 5 ppbv was found at 27 km. The measured HNO3 profile shows broad similarities to that of NO(y). This observation, together with the observed very low column amount of NO2, shows that NO(x) had been almost totally converted to HNO3, and that NO(y) was composed mainly of HNO3. The enhanced aerosol concentration between 19 and 22 km suggests that the maximum abundance of HNO3 trapped in the form of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) was about 6 ppbv at 21 km. The sampled air parcels were highly supersaturated with respect to NAT. Although extensive denitrification throughout the stratosphere did not prevail, an indication of denitrification was found at altitudes of 27 and 22 km, and between 18 and 15 km.

Kondo, Y.↗

NASA NTRS2000

HERO: High Energy Replicated Optics for a Hard-X-Ray Balloon Payload

We are developing high-energy grazing-incidence replicated optics for a balloon-borne hard-x-ray telescope. When completed, the instrument will have 170 cm2 of effective collecting area at 40 keV and 130 square cm at 60 keV with <= 30 arc seconds half power diameter. This payload will offer unprecedented sensitivity in the hard-x-ray region, with around 250 microCrab sensitivity on long-duration flights and 50-100 microCrab on ultra- long-duration balloon missions The payload consists of 16 mirror modules, each with 14 nested mirrors made from a high-strength nickel alloy, and a corresponding array of 16 focal plane detectors. An engineering demonstration flight is scheduled for the Spring of 2000, using just two mirror modules each with 3 shells, above a pair of gas-scintillation-proportional counters. This flight is intended to test a newly designed gondola pointing and aspect system and the stability of the optical bench design. The first scientific flight of the full payload is scheduled for the Fall of 2002. Full details of the payload and its capabilities will be presented together with data from various mirror-module tests. If available data from the first flight will also be presented.

Ramsey, B.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Reflight of the Gamma-Ray Arcminute Telescope Imaging System (GRATIS) Payload

The Gamma-Ray Arcminute Telescope Imaging System (GRATIS) balloon payload was prepared for reflight. This involved repair of damage caused in the previous flight to structural members of the payload (the gondola support structure) as well as damage to some of the pointing system elements and electronics modules. This work was successfully completed. An extensive pre-calibration of the CsI(Na) imaging detectors was then done. The plan was to take several months to calibrate the 36 detectors and to compare the results with the post-calibration from the previous flight in Alice Springs Australia. During the course of the pre-calibrations it was noted that the light output of the crystals was severely degraded in more than half the detectors compared to the values recorded 1.5 years earlier. Subsequent investigation revealed that the light yield degradation was not unreasonable. The CsI crystals had in fact performed well past their rated life from hygroscopic contamination. The crystals had spent the majority of their life either in the desert or in the extremely low humidity conditions of Livermore California. where the GRATIS payload had been based prior to transfer to Columbia. The extreme summer humidity of New York simply exacerbated a degradation process that had been artificially delayed by dry conditions. Because such a large part of the detector array had been degraded we did not feel it was appropriate to refly the payload because the scientific performance would have been compromised.

Hailey, Charles J.↗

NASA NTRS2000

The Use of Environmental Test Facilities for Purposes Beyond Their Original Design

Increasing demands from space flight project offices are requiring environmental testing facilities to become more versatile with increased capabilities. At the same time, maintaining a cost-effective approach to test operations has driven efforts to use these facilities for purposes beyond their original design. This paper presents an overview of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's efforts to provide JPL's space flight projects with test facilities to meet unique test requirements and to serve the needs of selected outside customers. The large number of recent Mars Missions, including the Mars Pathfinder project, have required testing of components and systems in a Martian surface environment in facilities originally designed for deep space testing. The unique problems associated with performing these tests are discussed, along with practical solutions. Other unique test requirements are discussed including the use of space simulation chambers for testing high altitude balloon gondolas and the use of vacuum chambers for system level test firing of an ion propulsion engine.

Fisher, Terry C.↗

NASA NTRS2001

HERO: Program Status and Fist Images from a Balloon-Borne Focusing Hard-X-ray Telescope

HERO is a balloon payload featuring shallow-graze angle replicated optics for hard-x-ray imaging. When completed, the instrument will offer unprecedented sensitivity in the hard-x-ray region, giving thousands of sources to choose from for detailed study on long flights. A recent proof-of-concept flight captured the first hard-x-ray focused images of the Crab Nebula, Cygnus X-1 and GRS 1915+105. Full details of the HERO program are presented, including the design and performance of the optics, the detectors and the gondola. Results from the recent proving flight are discussed together with expected future performance when the full science payload is completed.

Ramsey, B. D.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Ultra-long Duration Balloon Mission Concept Study: EXIST-LITE Hard X-ray Imaging Survey

We carried out a mission concept Study for an ultra-long duration balloon (ULDB) mission to conduct a high-sensitivity hard x-ray (approx. 20-600 keV) imaging sky survey. The EXIST-LITE concept has been developed, and critical detector technologies for realistic fabrication of very large area Cd-Zn-Te imaging detector arrays are now much better understood. A ULDB mission such as EXIST-LITE is now even more attractive as a testbed for the full Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) mission, recommended by the Decadal Survey, and now included in the NASA Roadmap and Strategic Plan as one of the 'Einstein Probes'. In this (overdue!) Final Report we provide a brief update for the science opportunities possible with a ULDB mission such as EXIST-LITE and relate these to upcoming missions (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) and Swift) as well as the ultimate very high sensitivity sky survey mission EXIST. We then review the progress made over this investigation in Detector/Telescope design concept, Gondola and Mission design concept, and Data Handling/Analysis.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2004

Test of the Equivalence Principle in an Einstein Elevator

The scientific goal of the experiment is to test the equality of gravitational and inertial mass (i.e., to test the Principle of Equivalence) by measuring the independence of the rate of fall of bodies from their compositions. The measurement is accomplished by measuring the relative displacement (or equivalently acceleration) of two falling bodies of different materials which are the proof masses of a differential accelerometer spinning about an horizontal axis to modulate a possible violation signal. A non-zero differential acceleration appearing at the signal frequency will indicate a violation of the Equivalence Principle. The goal of the experiment is to measure the Eotvos ratio og/g (differential acceleration/common acceleration) with a targeted accuracy that is about two orders of magnitude better than the state of the art (presently at several parts in 10(exp 13). The analyses carried out during this first grant year have focused on: (1) evaluation of possible shapes for the proof masses to meet the requirements on the higher-order mass moment disturbances generated by the falling capsule; (2) dynamics of the instrument package and differential acceleration measurement in the presence of errors and imperfections; (3) computation of the inertia characteristic of the instrument package that enable a separation of the signal from the dynamics-related noise; (4) a revised thermal analysis of the instrument package in light of the new conceptual design of the cryostat; (5) the development of a dynamic and control model of the capsule attached to the gondola and balloon to define the requirements for the leveling mechanism (6) a conceptual design of the leveling mechanism that keeps the capsule aligned before release from the balloon; and (7) a new conceptual design of the customized cryostat and a preliminary valuation of its cost. The project also involves an international cooperation with the Institute of Space Physics (IFSI) in Rome, Italy. The group at IFSI is in charge of prototyping the differential accelerometer and carrying out precursor laboratory measurements. During this grant year, our partners analyzed and then designed a new prototype of differential accelerometer that has several characteristics in common with the flight accelerometer at this point of the instrument development. The highlights of these activities are documented in a section of this report.

Shapiro, Irwin I.↗

NASA NTRS2009

InFOCuS: A Balloon-borne Hard X-ray Imaging Telescope

InFOCuS is a new generation balloon-borne hard X-ray telescope with focusing optics and spectroscopy. After several successful flights in recent years it is being refurbished for a 2010 flight from Australia to map the hard X-ray emission from the galactic center region. in this poster, we present the status of the mirror, detectors and attitude control system. The grazing incidence optics consists of a depth-graded platinum-carbon multilayer mirror with an 8-meter focal length. It has an effective area of 78 cm(sup 2) at 30 keV. an angular resolution of 2.0 arcmin (HPD), and a field of view of 10 arcmin. The detector is a CdZnTe solid-state device capable of imaging spectroscopy. The detector is surrounded by a 3-cm thick CsI anti-coincidence shield to reduce background from particles and photons not incident along the mirror focal direction. The gondola is being reconfigured in a floating ball configuration to improve pointing control and allow the telescope to be pointed vertically. Tracking will be accomplished with a suite of on-axis and off-axis star cameras. The payload will be ready to fly from Alice Springs, Australia in Spring 2010. In this flight, InFOCuS will have the angular resolution and sensitivity to determine whether Sgr A* is the source of the hard X-rays detected by Swift/BAT and INTEGRAL and determine if there are other nearby hard X-ray sources.

Krimm, Hans A.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Balloon for Long-Duration, High-Altitude Flight at Venus

A document describes a 5.5-m-diameter, helium-filled balloon designed for carrying a scientific payload having a mass of 44 kg for at least six days at an altitude of about 55 km in the atmosphere of Venus. The requirement for floating at nearly constant altitude dictates the choice of a mass-efficient spherical super-pressure balloon that tracks a constant atmospheric density. Therefore, the balloon is of a conventional spherical super-pressure type, except that it is made of materials chosen to minimize solar radiant heating and withstand the corrosive sulfuric acid aerosol of the Venusian atmosphere. The shell consists of 16 gores of a multilayer composite material. The outer layer, made of polytetrafluoroethylene, protects against sulfuric acid aerosol. Next is an aluminum layer that reflects sunlight to minimize heating, followed by an aluminized polyethylene terephthalate layer that resists permeation by helium, followed by an aromatic polyester fabric that imparts strength to withstand deployment forces and steady super-pressure. A polyurethane coat on the inner surface of the fabric facilitates sealing at gore-to-gore seams. End fittings and seals, and a tether connecting the end fittings to a gondola, are all made of sulfuric-acid-resistant materials.

Hall, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRS2011

Designing the Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry

While infrared astronomy has revolutionized our understanding of galaxies, stars, and planets, further progress on major questions is stymied by the inescapable fact that the spatial resolution of single-aperture telescopes degrades at long wavelengths. The Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry (BETTII) is an 8-meter boom interferometer to operate in the FIR (30-90 micron) on a high altitude balloon. The long baseline will provide unprecedented angular resolution (approx. 5") in this band. In order for BETTII to be successful, the gondola must be designed carefully to provide a high level of stability with optics designed to send a collimated beam into the cryogenic instrument. We present results from the first 5 months of design effort for BETTII. Over this short period of time, we have made significant progress and are on track to complete the design of BETTII during this year.

Rinehart, Stephen↗

NASA NTRS2011

Zodiac II: Debris Disk Imaging Potential

Zodiac II is a proposed coronagraph on a balloon-borne platform, for the purpose of observing debris disks around nearby stars. Zodiac II will have a 1.2-m diameter telescope mounted in a balloon-borne gondola capable of arcsecond quality pointing, and with the capability to make long-duration (several week) flights. Zodiac II will have a coronagraph able to make images of debris disks, meaning that its scattered light speckles will be at or below an average contrast level of about 10(exp -7) in three narrow (7 percent) bands centered on the V band, and one broad (20%) one at I band. We will discuss the potential science to be done with Zodiac II.

Traub Wesley↗

NASA NTRS2011

Zodiac II: Debris Disk Science from a Balloon

Zodiac II is a proposed balloon-borne science investigation of debris disks around nearby stars. Debris disks are analogs of the Asteroid Belt (mainly rocky) and Kuiper Belt (mainly icy) in our Solar System. Zodiac II will measure the size, shape, brightness, and color of a statistically significant sample of disks. These measurements will enable us to probe these fundamental questions: what do debris disks tell us about the evolution of planetary systems; how are debris disks produced; how are debris disks shaped by planets; what materials are debris disks made of; how much dust do debris disks make sa they grind down; and how long do debris disks live? In addition, Zodiac II will observe hot, young exoplanets as targets of opportunity. The Zodiac II instrument is a 1.1-m diameter SiC telescope and an imaging coronagraph on a gondola carried by a stratospheric balloon. Its data product is a set of images of each targeted debris disk in four broad visible wavelength bands. Zodiac II will address its science questions by taking high-resolution, multi-wavelength images of the debris disks around tens of nearby stars. Mid-latitude flights are considered: overnight test flights within the United States followed by half-global flights in the Southern Hemisphere. These longer flights are required to fully explore the set of known debris disks accessible only to Zodiac II. On these targets, it will be 100 times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS); no existing telescope can match the Zodiac II contrast and resolution performance. A second objective of Zodiac II is to use the near-space environment to raise the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of SiC mirrors, internal coronagraphs, deformable mirrors, and wavefront sensing and control, all potentially needed for a future space-based telescope for high-contrast exoplanet imaging.

Bryden, Geoffrey↗

NASA NTRS2012

Precision Attitude Control for the BETTII Balloon-Borne Interferometer

The Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry (BETTII) is an 8-meter baseline far-infrared interferometer to fly on a high altitude balloon. Operating at wavelengths of 30-90 microns, BETTII will obtain spatial and spectral information on science targets at angular resolutions down to less than half an arcsecond, a capability unmatched by other far-infrared facilities. This requires attitude control at a level ofless than a tenth of an arcsecond, a great challenge for a lightweight balloon-borne system. We have designed a precision attitude determination system to provide gondola attitude knowledge at a level of 2 milliarcseconds at rates up to 100Hz, with accurate absolute attitude determination at the half arcsecond level at rates of up to 10Hz. A mUlti-stage control system involving rigid body motion and tip-tilt-piston correction provides precision pointing stability to the level required for the far-infrared instrument to perform its spatial/spectral interferometry in an open-loop control. We present key aspects of the design of the attitude determination and control and its development status.

Benford, Dominic J.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Assessing the Potential of Stratospheric Balloons for Planetary Science

Recent developments in high altitude balloon platform capabilities, specifically long duration flights in excess of 50 days at over 100,000 ft and precision pointing with performance at the arc sec level or better have raised the question whether this platform can be utilized for high-value planetary science observations. In January of 2012 a workshop was held at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio to explore what planetary science can be achieved utilizing such a platform. Over 40 science concepts were identified by the scientists and engineers attending the workshop. Those ideas were captured and then posted to a public website for all interested planetary scientists to review and give their comments. The results of the workshop, and subsequent community review, have demonstrated that this platform appears to have potential for high-value science at very competitive costs. Given these positive results, the assessment process was extended to include 1) examining, in more detail, the requirements for the gondola platform and the mission scenarios 2) identifying technical challenges and 3) developing one or more platform concepts in enough fidelity to enable accurate estimating of development and mission costs. This paper provides a review of the assessment, a summary of the achievable science and the challenges to make that science a reality with this platform.

Kremic, Tibor↗

NASA NTRS2013

High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun: Hard X-Ray Balloon-Borne Telescope

Set to fly in the Fall of 2013 from Ft. Sumner, NM, the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) mission is a collaborative effort between the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Goddard Space Flight Center to upgrade an existing payload, the High Energy Replicated Optics (HERO) balloon-borne telescope, to make unique scientific measurements of the Sun and astrophysical targets during the same flight. The HEROES science payload consists of 8 mirror modules, housing a total of 109 grazing-incidence optics. These modules are mounted on a carbon-fiber - and Aluminum optical bench 6 m from a matching array of high pressure xenon gas scintillation proportional counters, which serve as the focal-plane detectors. The HERO gondola utilizes a differential GPS system (backed by a magnetometer) for coarse pointing in the azimuth and a shaft angle encoder plus inclinometer provides the coarse elevation. The HEROES payload will incorporate a new solar aspect system to supplement the existing star camera, for fine pointing during both the day and night. A mechanical shutter will be added to the star camera to protect it during solar observations. HEROES will also implement two novel alignment monitoring system that will measure the alignment between the optical bench and the star camera and between the optics and detectors for improved pointing and post-flight data reconstruction. The overall payload will also be discussed. This mission is funded by the NASA HOPE (Hands On Project Experience) Training Opportunity awarded by the NASA Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership, in partnership with NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Office of the Chief Engineer and Office of the Chief Technologist

Gaskin, Jessica↗

NASA NTRS2014

SuperHERO: The Next Generation Hard X-ray HEROES Telescope

SuperHERO is a new high-sensitivity Long Duration Balloon (LDB)-capable, hard-x-ray (20-75 keV) telescope for making novel astrophysics and heliophysics observations. The proposed SuperHERO payload will be developed jointly by the Astrophysics Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the Solar Physics Laboratory and Wallops Flight Facility at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. SuperHERO is a follow-on payload to the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) balloon-borne telescope that recently launched from Fort Sumner, NM in September of 2013. The HEROES core instrument is a hard x-ray telescope consisting of x-ray 109 optics configured into 8 modules. Each module is aligned to a matching gas-filled detector at a focal length of 6 m. SuperHERO will make significant improvements to the HEROES payload, including: new solid-state multi-pixel CdTe detectors, additional optics, the Wallops Arc-Second Pointer, alignment monitoring systems and lighter gondola.

Gaskin, Jessica A.↗

NASA NTRS2014

SuperHERO: The Next Generation Hard X-Ray HEROES Telescope

Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Zodiac II: Debris Disk Science from a Balloon

Zodiac II is a proposed balloon-borne science investigation of debris disks around nearby stars. Debris disks are analogs of the Asteroid Belt (mainly rocky) and Kuiper Belt (mainly icy) in our Solar System. Zodiac II will measure the size, shape, brightness, and color of a statistically significant sample of disks. These measurements will enable us to probe these fundamental questions: what do debris disks tell us about the evolution of planetary systems; how are debris disks produced; how are debris disks shaped by planets; what materials are debris disks made of; how much dust do debris disks make as they grind down; and how long do debris disks live? In addition, Zodiac II will observe hot, young exoplanets as targets of opportunity. The Zodiac II instrument is a 1.1-m diameter SiC (Silicone carbide) telescope and an imaging coronagraph on a gondola carried by a stratospheric balloon. Its data product is a set of images of each targeted debris disk in four broad visible-wavelength bands. Zodiac II will address its science questions by taking high-resolution, multi-wavelength images of the debris disks around tens of nearby stars. Mid-latitude flights are considered: overnight test flights in the US followed by half-global flights in the Southern Hemisphere. These longer flights are required to fully explore the set of known debris disks accessible only to Zodiac II. On these targets, it will be 100 times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS); no existing telescope can match the Zodiac II contrast and resolution performance. A second objective of Zodiac II is to use the near-space environment to raise the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of SiC mirrors, internal coronagraphs, deformable mirrors, and wavefront sensing and control, all potentially needed for a future space-based telescope for high-contrast exoplanet imaging.

suborbital↗