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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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Environmental effects of charged particle and simulated solar electromagnetic radiation on optical properties of spacecraft thermal control materials
Simulated solar wind effects on thermal control coatings for space flight
White paint production by heating impure aluminum silicate clay having low solar absorptance
Method utilizes an RF excited plasma to surface deactivate thermally stable powders at high temperatures. Utilization of this plasma heat treatment at high temperatures can be carried out without grain growth, calcination, or agglomeration.
Induction plasma heating techniques were studied for calcining zinc orthotitanate particles for use in thermal control coatings. Previous studies indicated that the optimum calcining temperature is between 1400 and 1750 C. An intermediate temperature (1670 C) was chosen as a reference point for running a temperature series at the reference point and 220 C on both sides. The effect of varying chamber temperature on the reflectance spectra, before and after vacuum UV irradiation, is presented. The correlation between Zn2Ti04 paramagnetic resonance activity and its susceptibility to vacuum UV damage is discussed.
Calculations of mixing conditions in the vapor reaction system established criteria for reactor design. Gas mixing was optimized by jet action and vapor phase production of zinc orthotitanate has been accomplished.
A variety of nitrogen compounds have been synthesized by a static Fischer-Tropsch type reaction from CO, D2 and ND3, with Ni-Fe and Al2O3 catalysts. In this reaction, the gas is heated to 500-700 C for about 0.5 hr, and then cycled through lower temperatures (100-400 C) for 1-14 days. Products were analyzed by mass spectrometry in conjunction with gas chromatography and other chromatographic techniques. Compounds produced include alkyl cyanides, pyrroles, porphyrin-like compounds, guanidines, hydantoin, uracil and its derivatives, thymine, adenine, guanine, xanthine, melamine, as well as alkanes, alkenes and aromatic hydrocarbons. Such reactions may have been involved in the production of interstellar molecules, organic compounds in meteorites, and prebiotic organic matter on planets.
Electron spin resonance measurements on variously treated zinc oxide powders reveal that the resonance signal at g = 1.956 is due to one electron trapped oxygen ion vacancy level, at a depth of (0.31 plus or minus 0.02) eV below the conduction band. The electrons at this level are delocalized. Schottky barrier influences nearly the entire bulk of the powder sample, and the bending of the bands caused by chemisorbed oxygen puts the vacancy level above the Fermi level almost through the entire bulk.
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Characteristics of temporal variability in the California Current system are analyzed using a 30-month time series of CZCS imagery. About 20-25 percent of the variance is produced by a periodic annual cycle with peak values in winter. Analysis of ship-based chlorophyll measurements indicates that the winter peak is only characteristic of the upper portion of the euphotic zone and that total water column chlorophyll peaks during the spring upwelling season. Satellite studies of intraannual variability are modulated by strong 5- to 6-day oscillation in the availability of usable imagery, resulting from a combination of satellite orbital dynamics, which produces images of the study area roughly 4 out of every 6 days, and an oscillation in cloud cover, which controls the availability of clear imagery. The cloud cover oscillation, which is also present in coastal winds, undoubtedly affects the ocean surface and biases the data obtained by satellites. Analysis of data using a 5-day time step indicates that the predominant mode of nonseasonal variability is characterized by in-phase fluctuations throughout the southern and central California coastal region.
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Five coastal-zone-color-scanner images from the southeastern U.S. continental shelf are combined with concurrent moored current meter measurements to assess the processes controlling the variability in chlorophyll concentration and distribution in this region. An equation governing the space and time distribution of a nonconservative quantity such as chlorophyll is used in the calculations. The terms of the equation, estimated from observations, show that advective, diffusive, and local processes contribute to the plankton distributions and vary with time and location. The results from this calculation are compared with similar results obtained using a numerical physical-biological model with circulation fields derived from an optimal interpolation of the current meter observations and it is concluded that the two approaches produce different estimates of the processes controlling phytoplankton variability.
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In the 1984 SBIR Call for Proposals, NASA solicited new methods to measure primary production and chlorophyll in the ocean. Biospherical Instruments Inc. responded to this call with a proposal first to study a variety of approaches to this problem. A second phase of research was then funded to pursue instrumentation to measure the sunlight stimulated naturally occurring fluorescence of chlorophyll in marine phytoplankton. The monitoring of global productivity, global fisheries resources, application of above surface-to-underwater optical communications systems, submarine detection applications, correlation, and calibration of remote sensing systems are but some of the reasons for developing inexpensive sensors to measure chlorophyll and productivity. Normally, productivity measurements are manpower and cost intensive and, with the exception of a very few expensive multiship research experiments, provide no contemporaneous data. We feel that the patented, simple sensors that we have designed will provide a cost effective method for large scale, synoptic, optical measurements in the ocean. This document is the final project report for a NASA sponsored SBIR Phase 2 effort to develop new methods for the measurements of primary production in the ocean. This project has been successfully completed, a U.S. patent was issued covering the methodology and sensors, and the first production run of instrumentation developed under this contract has sold out and been delivered.
Palagonitic materials from Mauna Kea, Hawaii, were identified as Mars analogs based on their spectral and magnetic properties. These materials probably resulted from hydrothermal alteration during eruption of the volcano and/or from weathering under ambient conditions. The reflectance spectra of the Mars surface obtained by Earth-based telescopes and the reflectance spectra of analogs obtained in the laboratory show features due to electronic transitions of Fe(III) in oxide particles that range in size from nanometer (nanophase) to micrometer sized or larger. The presence of Fe(III) suggests oxidizing conditions during the alteration process in Mars that may have occurred in the past or during a slow ongoing process. Two naturally altered basaltic samples from Hawaii (HWMK12 and HWMK13) and a laboratory-altered (PH-13-DCGT2) basaltic glass similar in elemental composition to the above two samples was examined. All three samples exhibited spectral characteristics similar to martian bright-region spectra. Chemical and mineralogical changes occurring at the surface of these basalts were studied in order to understand the basis for their Mars-like properties. The spectral properties of the three samples were examined after the removal of Fe oxides by chemical extractants.
The following variables along the Pacific equator from 145 deg E to 95 deg W were.