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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Detecting thermal discrepancies in vessel walls

An infrared, heat-sensing catheter particularly useful for identifying potentially fatal arterial plaques in patients with disease of the coronary or other arteries and its use are detailed. In one embodiment, an infrared fiberoptic system (with or without ultrasound) is employed at the tip of the catheter to locate inflamed, heat-producing, atherosclerotic plaque, which is at greater risk for rupture, fissure, or ulceration, and consequent thrombosis and occlusion of the artery. In another embodiment, a catheter with an infrared detector (with or without ultrasound) employed at its tip will likewise locate inflamed heat-producing atherosclerotic plaque. The devices and methods of the invention may be used to detect abscesses, infection, and cancerous regions by the heat such regions differentially display over the ambient temperature of immediately adjacent tissues. The methods and devices of the invention may also be used to detect regions of cooler than ambient tissue in a vessel or organ which indicate cell death, thrombosis, cell death, hemorrhage, calcium or cholesterol accumulations, or foreign materials.

Casscells, S. Ward↗
NASA NTRS2013

Laboratory Instruments Available to Support Space Station Researchers at Marshall Space Flight Center

A number of research instruments are available at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to support ISS researchers and their investigations. These modern analytical tools yield valuable and sometimes new informative resulting from sample characterization. Instruments include modern scanning electron microscopes equipped with field emission guns providing analytical capabilities that include angstron-level image resolution of dry, wet and biological samples. These microscopes are also equipped with silicon drift X-ray detectors (SDD) for fast yet precise analytical mapping of phases, as well as electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) units to map grain orientations in crystalline alloys. Sample chambers admit large samples, provide variable pressures for wet samples, and quantitative analysis software to determine phase relations. Advances in solid-state electronics have also facilitated improvements for surface chemical analysis that are successfully employed to analyze metallic materials and alloys, ceramics, slags, and organic polymers. Another analytical capability at MSFC is a mganetic sector Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) that quantitatively determines and maps light elements such as hydrogen, lithium, and boron along with their isotopes, identifies and quantifies very low level impurities even at parts per billion (ppb) levels. Still other methods available at MSFC include X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) that can determine oxidation states of elements as well as identify polymers and measure film thicknesses on coated materials, Scanning Auger electron spectroscopy (SAM) which combines surface sensitivity, spatial lateral resolution (approximately 20 nm), and depth profiling capabilities to describe elemental compositions in near surface regions and even the chemical state of analyzed atoms. Conventional Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) for observing internal microstructures at very high magnifications and the Electron Probe Micro-analyzer (EPMA) for very precise microanalysis are available as needed by the researcher. Space Station researchers are invited to work with MSFC in analyzing their samples using these techniques.

Panda, Binayak↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

RadLab: Graphical and Programming Interfaces for Interrogation of Space Telemetry Data

Sensors on multiple spacecraft in and beyond low Earth orbit continuously monitor and collect space radiation data and transmit it back to Earth. These data are of vast importance to space biology research, as ionizing radiation affects living organisms—astronauts and non-human experiment subjects alike—placing them at higher risk of carcinogenesis, degenerative diseases, and radiation sickness. Therefore, knowledge of the biological effects of space radiation is essential for planning future crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit. The RadLab project, initiated by GeneLab and ALSDA (the Open Science Data Repository; OSDR) and sponsored by the NASA Human Research Program, is a new effort aimed at connecting dosimetry data from radiation detectors located on the International Space Station (ISS), as well as other spacecraft. To date, access to these data has been fragmented across space agencies and databases; to address this issue, we have developed an application programming interface (API) and an associated graphical user interface (GUI) designed to provide a single point of access to the data. As of now, OSDR has focused on the detectors located on the ISS, with the long-term goal to establish a self-sustained portal receiving continuous updates through APIs connecting to multiple radiation databases of varying scope, as well as individual investigator contributions. The RadLab API implements a request syntax enabling users to query data by craft, sensor type, timespan, etc, allowing for arbitrary combinations of original source data, thus providing programmatic access for use in computational pipelines, while the GUI facilitates data visualization and exploration, making these data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), complementing the biological data contained in OSDR, and providing the space science community with a valuable resource for scientific analyses.

radiation↗
NASA NTRS1999

NASA/NOAA: Earth Science Electronic Theater 1999

The Electronic Theater (E-theater) presents visualizations which span the period from the original Suomi/Hasler animations of the first ATS-1 GEO weather satellite images in 1966 to the latest 1999 NASA Earth Science Vision for the next 25 years. Hot off the SGI-Onyx Graphics-Supercomputer are NASA's visualizations of Hurricanes Mitch, Georges, Fran and Linda. These storms have been recently featured on the covers of National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and Popular Science. Highlights will be shown from the NASA hurricane visualization resource video tape that has been used repeatedly this season on National and International network TV. Results will be presented from a new paper on automatic wind measurements in Hurricane Luis from 1-min GOES images that appeared in the November BAMS. The visualizations are produced by the NASA Goddard Visualization and Analysis Laboratory (VAL/912), and Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS/930), as well as other Goddard and NASA groups using NASA, NOAA, ESA, and NASDA Earth science datasets. Visualizations will be shown from the Earth Science E-Theater 1999 recently presented in Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu, Washington, New York, and Dallas. The presentation Jan 11-14 at the AMS meeting in Dallas used a 4-CPU SGI/CRAY Onyx Infinite Reality Super Graphics Workstation with 8 GB RAM and a Terabyte Disk at 3840 X 1024 resolution with triple synchronized BarcoReality 9200 projectors on a 60ft wide screen. Visualizations will also be featured from the new Earth Today Exhibit which was opened by Vice President Gore on July 2, 1998 at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum in Washington, as well as those presented for possible use at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC), Disney EPCOT, and other venues. New methods are demonstrated for visualizing, interpreting, comparing, organizing and analyzing immense HyperImage remote sensing datasets and three dimensional numerical model results. We call the data from many new Earth sensing satellites, HyperImage datasets, because they have such high resolution in the spectral, temporal, spatial, and dynamic range domains. The traditional numerical spreadsheet paradigm has been extended to develop a scientific visualization approach for processing HyperImage datasets and 3D model results interactively. The advantages of extending the powerful spreadsheet style of computation to multiple sets of images and organizing image processing were demonstrated using the Distributed image SpreadSheet (DISS). The DISS is being used as a high performance testbed Next Generation Internet (NGI) VisAnalysis of: 1) El Nino SSTs and NDVI response 2) Latest GOES 10 5-min rapid Scans of 26 day 5000 frame movie of March & April '98 weather and tornadic storms 3) TRMM rainfall and lightning 4)GOES 9 satellite images/winds and NOAA aircraft radar of hurricane Luis, 5) lightning detector data merged with GOES image sequences, 6) Japanese GMS, TRMM, & ADEOS data 7) Chinese FY2 data 8) Meteosat & ERS/ATSR data 9) synchronized manipulation of multiple 3D numerical model views; and others will be illustrated. The Image SpreadSheet has been highly successful in producing Earth science visualizations for public outreach. Many of these visualizations have been widely disseminated through the world wide web pages of the HPCC/LTP/RSD program which can be found at http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd The one min interval animations of Hurricane Luis on ABC Nightline and the color perspective rendering of Hurricane Fran published by TIME, LIFE, Newsweek, Popular Science, National Geographic, Scientific American, and the "Weekly Reader" are some of the examples which will be shown.

Hasler, A. Fritz↗
NASA NTRS1999

NASA/NOAA: Earth Science Electronic Theater 1999. Earth Science Observations, Analysis and Visualization: Roots in the 60s - Vision for the Next Millennium

The Etheater presents visualizations which span the period from the original Suomi/Hasler animations of the first ATS-1 GEO weather satellite images in 1966, to the latest 1999 NASA Earth Science Vision for the next 25 years. Hot off the SGI-Onyx Graphics-Supercomputer are NASA''s visualizations of Hurricanes Mitch, Georges, Fran and Linda. These storms have been recently featured on the covers of National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and Popular Science. Highlights will be shown from the NASA hurricane visualization resource video tape that has been used repeatedly this season on National and International network TV. Results will be presented from a new paper on automatic wind measurements in Hurricane Luis from 1-min GOES images that appeared in the November BAMS. The visualizations are produced by the NASA Goddard Visualization & Analysis Laboratory, and Scientific Visualization Studio, as well as other Goddard and NASA groups using NASA, NOAA, ESA, and NASDA Earth science datasets. Visualizations will be shown from the Earth Science ETheater 1999 recently presented in Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu, Washington, New York, and Dallas. The presentation Jan 11-14 at the AMS meeting in Dallas used a 4-CPU SGI/CRAY Onyx Infinite Reality Super Graphics Workstation with 8 GB RAM and a Terabyte Disk at 3840 X 1024 resolution with triple synchronized BarcoReality 9200 projectors on a 60ft wide screen. Visualizations will also be featured from the new Earth Today Exhibit which was opened by Vice President Gore on July 2, 1998 at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, as well as those presented for possible use at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC), Disney EPCOT, and other venues. New methods are demonstrated for visualizing, interpreting, comparing, organizing and analyzing immense HyperImage remote sensing datasets and three dimensional numerical model results. We call the data from many new Earth sensing satellites, HyperImage datasets, because they have such high resolution in the spectral, temporal, spatial, and dynamic range domains. The traditional numerical spreadsheet paradigm has been extended to develop a scientific visualization approach for processing HyperImage datasets and 3D model results interactively. The advantages of extending the powerful spreadsheet style of computation to multiple sets of images and organizing image processing were demonstrated using the Distributed Image SpreadSheet (DISS). The DISS is being used as a high performance testbed Next Generation Internet (NGI) VisAnalysis of: 1) El Nino SSTs and NDVI response 2) Latest GOES 10 5-min rapid Scans of 26 day 5000 frame movie of March & April 198 weather and tornadic storms 3) TRMM rainfall and lightning 4)GOES 9 satellite images/winds and NOAA aircraft radar of hurricane Luis, 5) lightning detector data merged with GOES image sequences, 6) Japanese GMS, TRMM, & ADEOS data 7) Chinese FY2 data 8) Meteosat & ERS/ATSR data 9) synchronized manipulation of multiple 3D numerical model views; etc. will be illustrated. The Image SpreadSheet has been highly successful in producing Earth science visualizations for public outreach.

Hasler, A. Fritz↗
NASA NTRS2011

Restoration of Apollo Data by the NSSDC and the PDS Lunar Data Node

The Lunar Data Node (LDN), under the auspices of the Geosciences Node of the Planetary Data System (PDS), is restoring Apollo data archived at the National Space Science Data Center. The Apollo data were arch ived on older media (7 -track tapes. microfilm, microfiche) and in ob solete digital formats, which limits use of the data. The LDN is maki ng these data accessible by restoring them to standard formats and archiving them through PDS. The restoration involves reading the older m edia, collecting supporting data (metadata), deciphering and understa nding the data, and organizing into a data set. The data undergo a pe er review before archive at PDS. We will give an update on last year' s work. We have scanned notebooks from Otto Berg, P.1. for the Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experiment. These notebooks contain information on the data and calibration coefficients which we hope to be able to use to restore the raw data into a usable archive. We have scanned Ap ollo 14 and 15 Dust Detector data from microfilm and are in the proce ss of archiving thc scans with PDS. We are also restoring raw dust de tector data from magnetic tape supplied by Yosio Nakamura (UT Austin) . Seiichi Nagihara (Texas Tech Univ.) and others in cooperation with NSSDC are recovering ARCSAV tapes (tapes containing raw data streams from all the ALSEP instruments). We will be preparing these data for archive with PDS. We are also in the process of recovering and archivi ng data not previously archived, from the Apollo 16 Gamma Ray Spectro meter and the Apollo 17 Infrared Spectrometer.

Williams, David R.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Interim Report of the Astronomy Spacelab Payloads Study: Ultraviolet and Optical Astronomy - Volume 2

The Space Shuttle will comprise NASA's primary transportation system into near-earth orbit during the 1980s. The Shuttle will provide the astronomical community with a major new capability to send a wide variety of instrumentation into orbit, to utilize it there under manned or automatic control for periods from seven to thirty days, and to return it to the ground. To this end the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) is developing Spacelab, an array of interchangeable components -pressurized manned modules, unpressurized pallets and related support systems - to be mounted in the Shuttle payload bay. Spacelab will offer important opportunities to carry out astronomical research with instruments optimized for specific objectives. With a high flight frequency and with the ability to modify or interchange telescopes and instruments between flights, one will not need to make rigid long-term commitments to specific and compromised telescope/instrument/ detector combinations as is the case for automated satellites. Observational techniques demanding the physical return of data and equipment - in particular the use of photographic film, instruments requiring tight calibration controls, cryogens, high-risk detectors and degradeable optical coatings -will open research areas not readily addressed by automated satellites. Although Shuttle flight duration will be limited to periods from seven to thirty days, substantial data can be obtained with a single instrument on short missions, if targets are carefully selected and prioritized, and a large number of instruments can be accommodated on a single flight. Important astronomical data are regularly obtained on sounding rocket flights of five minutes duration. Spacelab will provide far longer observing periods for large and small telescopes, with resources greatly exceeding those of sounding rockets, while retaining much of the sounding rocket philosophy in terms of instrument flexibility, simplicity, reliability assurance and development costs. The Ultraviolet and Optical Astronomy Program on Spacelab is being planned to provide optical astronomers with relatively simple and regular access to the extended wavelength coverage, the superior image quality and the darkness of the night sky available above the earth's atmosphere. In a rapidly evolving science one cannot predict what problems will be timely in the 1980s. Extrapolating from the current epoch, however, one can envision a continuing interest in such areas as the structure, composition and phenomenology of planetary surfaces and atmospheres; the composition and physical nature of the interstellar medium; the composition, structure and life history of stars, especially those in advanced stages of evolution; the stellar population of other galaxies; such enigmatic phenomena as X-ray binary black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei and quasars; large scale interactions between galaxies and the nature of the intergalactic medium; precise calibration of the Hubble law for the expansion of the universe; the average density of the universe; and the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1994

Description of the COMRADE experiment

The COMRADE experiment is designed to return minimally degraded particles to earth along with complete in situ information concerning mass, velocity, and trajectory of encountered particles. The objectives of the program are very diverse. A set of flight-tested active detectors will be combined in an array to identify some of the physical properties of an incident grain, e.g., velocity vector, momentum, and mass. The use of passive detectors gives access to the chemical and isotopical properties of the grains in the micrometer size range. We are concerned simultaneously with a destructive capture, using metallic collectors, and a nondestructive capture, using a new low-density target in which the impacting grains stop, practically intact. The primary objectives for this mission are (1) to identify the particle remnants of the micrometer-sized grains having impacted on purposely designed metallic collectors, for complete and detailed chemical, isotopic, and organic analysis, thereby determining grain composition as well as the existence of organic and inorganic molecules, to be related with the possible cometary origin of the grains showing an extraterrestrial signature; (2) to return captured intact particles to earth for complete and detailed chemical, isotopic, spectral, mineralogical, and organic analysis, thereby determining grain composition as well as the existence of organic and inorganic molecules; and (3) to capture micrometer/submicrometer dust grains in a manner that ensures minimal particle degradation and guarantees state-of-the-art confidence in measurement of the in situ particle parameters including trajectory, velocity vector, mass, and flux distributions.

Borg, Janet↗
NASA NTRS1995

Integrated optical components in thin films of polymers

The results will be reported on the study of integrated optical components based on nonlinear optical polymeric films. Polymers poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polyimide (PI) doped with organic laser dyes 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-p dimethylaminostyryl-4H pyran (DCM) and 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 - pentamethyl-2,6 -diethyl-pyrromethene -BF2-complex (Pyrommethene 567, PM-567) were selected as materials for light guiding films. Additionally, UV polymerized polydiacetylene (PDA) on glass substrate was used as a waveguide material. Optical waveguides were fabricated using spin coating of preoxidized silicon wafers (1.5 micrometer silicon oxide layer) with organic dye/polymer solution followed by soft baking. the modes in slab waveguides were studied using prism coupling techniques. Measured values of mode coupling angles in multimode waveguides were used to calculate film thickness and refractive index for different polarizations. Refractive index anisotropy was found in PDA waveguide. The optimal conditions of spin coating for single mode waveguide fabrication were estimated. Propagation losses were measured by collecting the light scattered from the trace of a propagating mode either by scanning photo detector or by CCD camera. Different types of light coupling techniques were used including end-dire coupling, prism and grating coupling. Mechanical printing technique was developed for coupling grating fabrication resulting in gratings with 4% diffraction efficiency. The gratings demonstrated good stability with diffraction efficiency relaxation rate 2.4 dB/hour at a temperature approximately 15-20 C below glass transition point. Dye doped waveguides were transversally pumped with frequency doubled Nd:YAG Q-switched laser producing intensive light emission with apparent 6 kW/sq cm pump threshold and spectrum narrowing near 617 nm peak in the case of DCM doped waveguide. PM-567 doped waveguide pumped with CW Ar(+) laser (514 nm wavelength) far below threshold (0.1 W/sq.cm pump power) demonstrated emission spectrum narrowing near 616 nm peak with 18% power conversion slope efficiency. In this case emission spectrum modification was caused by the enhanced light absorption along the direction of propagating waveguide modes. Changing length, thickness, and other morphlogical waveguide parameters one can modify emission spectrum in predictable direction. The results show that polymeric waveguides, especially based on high temperature polymers such as Pl, can be used to produce a varietiy of active and passive silicon compatible integrated optical components for aerospace applications.

Sarkisov, Sergey↗
NASA NTRS2026

The Habitable Worlds Observatory Technology Development Plan

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is NASA’s next large space telescope, selected by the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics to search for and characterize habitable exoplanets while enabling a broad range of transformative astrophysics. In August 2024, the HWO Technology Maturation Project Office (TMPO) was formed to begin exploring the HWO science, technology, and mission architectures toward a Mission Concept Review (MCR) at the end of the decade. A primary deliverable of this effort is this technology development plan that identifies critical technologies that enable the mission, defines a process for assessing the readiness of those technologies, and outlines a strategy for developing those technologies to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5 before the MCR. This document covers technologies organized along three “tracks”: Coronagraph System technologies, Ultra-stable Telescope System technologies, and High-sensitivity Ultraviolet and Visible Instrumentation technologies. Additional emerging and enhancing technologies are also discussed.

technology development↗
NASA NTRS2006

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2006

Topics covered include: Semiautonomous Avionics-and-Sensors System for a UAV; Biomimetic/Optical Sensors for Detecting Bacterial Species; System Would Detect Foreign-Object Damage in Turbofan Engine; Detection of Water Hazards for Autonomous Robotic Vehicles; Fuel Cells Utilizing Oxygen From Air at Low Pressures; Hybrid Ion-Detector/Data-Acquisition System for a TOF-MS; Spontaneous-Desorption Ionizer for a TOF-MS; Equipment for On-Wafer Testing From 220 to 325 GHz; Computing Isentropic Flow Properties of Air/R-134a Mixtures; Java Mission Evaluation Workstation System; Using a Quadtree Algorithm To Assess Line of Sight; Software for Automated Generation of Cartesian Meshes; Optics Program Modified for Multithreaded Parallel Computing; Programs for Testing Processor-in-Memory Computing Systems; PVM Enhancement for Beowulf Multiple-Processor Nodes; Ion-Exclusion Chromatography for Analyzing Organics in Water; Selective Plasma Deposition of Fluorocarbon Films on SAMs; Water-Based Pressure-Sensitive Paints; System Finds Horizontal Location of Center of Gravity; Predicting Tail Buffet Loads of a Fighter Airplane; Water Containment Systems for Testing High-Speed Flywheels; Vapor-Compression Heat Pumps for Operation Aboard Spacecraft; Multistage Electrophoretic Separators; Recovering Residual Xenon Propellant for an Ion Propulsion System; Automated Solvent Seaming of Large Polyimide Membranes; Manufacturing Precise, Lightweight Paraboloidal Mirrors; Analysis of Membrane Lipids of Airborne Micro-Organisms; Noninvasive Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease Using 12-Lead High-Frequency Electrocardiograms; Dual-Laser-Pulse Ignition; Enhanced-Contrast Viewing of White-Hot Objects in Furnaces; Electrically Tunable Terahertz Quantum-Cascade Lasers; Few-Mode Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonators; Conflict-Aware Scheduling Algorithm; and Real-Time Diagnosis of Faults Using a Bank of Kalman Filters.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1977

Analytical methods for toxic gases from thermal degradation of polymers

Toxic gases evolved from the thermal oxidative degradation of synthetic or natural polymers in small laboratory chambers or in large scale fire tests are measured by several different analytical methods. Gas detector tubes are used for fast on-site detection of suspect toxic gases. The infrared spectroscopic method is an excellent qualitative and quantitative analysis for some toxic gases. Permanent gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and ethylene, can be quantitatively determined by gas chromatography. Highly toxic and corrosive gases such as nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide should be passed into a scrubbing solution for subsequent analysis by either specific ion electrodes or spectrophotometric methods. Low-concentration toxic organic vapors can be concentrated in a cold trap and then analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The limitations of different methods are discussed.

Hsu, M.-T. S.↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Spectrographic Receiver for Laser Spectrometers

Multiband LiDAR systems, which are typically single wavelength in transmission and reception, are becoming more applicable for scientific use. However, traditional LiDAR receivers do not scale well to tens or hundreds of received bands. We introduce the design for a spectrographic receiver using an array detector for laser spectrometers and present two of the many possible applications: fluorescence spectroscopy in the visible range and IR reflectance spectroscopy. Each laser pulse has the capability of exciting a target in various wavelengths, and a spectrographic receiver would be able to interpret this excitation, while a typical LiDAR consisting of single wavelength receiver would not. Using a spectrograph in a system with a pulsed laser in the visible or UV range is capable of the detection of fluorescent signal. These spectra reveal the presence of organics and is an applicable technology for planetary science. A spectrograph coupled with a pulsed laser in the IR range shows capability of detecting the presence of water in various forms also applicable technology for both Earth and planetary science. Both systems utilize a Czerny-Turner spectrograph design with a ZnSe prism for the dispersion of light onto an Avalanche Photo Diode (APD). This paper introduces the concept and design of a spectrographic receiver for laser spectrometers, as well as two possible applications.

Sandford, Macey↗
NASA NTRS1975

Applications of chemiluminescence to bacterial analysis

Luminol chemiluminescence method for detecting bacteria was based on microbial activation of the oxidation of the luminol monoanion by hydrogen peroxide. Elimination of the prior lysing step, previously used in the chemiluminescence technique, was shown to improve considerably the reproducibility and accuracy of the method in addition to simplifying it. An inexpensive, portable photomultiplier detector was used to measure the maximum light intensity produced when the sample is added to the reagent. Studies of cooling tower water show that the luminol chemiluminescence technique can be used to monitor changes in viable cell population both under normal conditions and during chlorine treatment. Good correlation between chemiluminescence and plate counts was also obtained in the analysis of process water used in paper mills. This method showed good potential for monitoring the viable bacteria populations in activated sludge used in waste treatment plants to digest organic matter.

Searle, N. D.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Deflection of the local interstellar dust flow by solar radiation pressure

Interstellar dust grains intercepted by the dust detectors on the Ulysses and Galileo spacecrafts at heliocentric distances from 2 to 4 astronomical units show a deficit of grains with masses from 1 x 10(-17) to 3 x 10(-16) kilograms relative to grains intercepted outside 4 astronomical units. To divert grains out of the 2- to 4-astronomical unit region, the solar radiation pressure must be 1.4 to 1.8 times the force of solar gravity. These figures are consistent with the optical properties of spherical or elongated grains that consist of astronomical silicates or organic refractory material. Pure graphite grains with diameters of 0.2 to 0.4 micrometer experience a solar radiation pressure force as much as twice the force of solar gravity.

Cosmic Dust↗
NASA NTRS1994

Dosimetry of heavy ions by use of CCD detectors

The design and the atomic composition of Charge Coupled Devices (CCD's) make them unique for investigations of single energetic particle events. As detector system for ionizing particles they detect single particles with local resolution and near real time particle tracking. In combination with its properties as optical sensor, particle transversals of single particles are to be correlated to any objects attached to the light sensitive surface of the sensor by simple imaging of their shadow and subsequent image analysis of both, optical image and particle effects, observed in affected pixels. With biological objects it is possible for the first time to investigate effects of single heavy ions in tissue or extinguished organs of metabolizing (i.e. moving) systems with a local resolution better than 15 microns. Calibration data for particle detection in CCD's are presented for low energetic protons and heavy ions.

Schott, J. U.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Automated ISS Flight Utilities

During my internship at NASA Johnson Space Center, I worked in the Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG), where I was tasked with a number of projects focused on the automation of tasks and activities related to the operation of the International Space Station (ISS). As I worked on a number of projects, I have written short sections below to give a description for each, followed by more general remarks on the internship experience. My first project is titled "General Exposure Representation EVADOSE", also known as "GEnEVADOSE". This project involved the design and development of a C++/ ROOT framework focused on radiation exposure for extravehicular activity (EVA) planning for the ISS. The utility helps mission managers plan EVAs by displaying information on the cumulative radiation doses that crew will receive during an EVA as a function of the egress time and duration of the activity. SRAG uses a utility called EVADOSE, employing a model of the space radiation environment in low Earth orbit to predict these doses, as while outside the ISS the astronauts will have less shielding from charged particles such as electrons and protons. However, EVADOSE output is cumbersome to work with, and prior to GEnEVADOSE, querying data and producing graphs of ISS trajectories and cumulative doses versus egress time required manual work in Microsoft Excel. GEnEVADOSE automates all this work, reading in EVADOSE output file(s) along with a plaintext file input by the user providing input parameters. GEnEVADOSE will output a text file containing all the necessary dosimetry for each proposed EVA egress time, for each specified EVADOSE file. It also plots cumulative dose versus egress time and the ISS trajectory, and displays all of this information in an auto-generated presentation made in LaTeX. New features have also been added, such as best-case scenarios (egress times corresponding to the least dose), interpolated curves for trajectories, and the ability to query any time in the EVADES output. As mentioned above, GEnEVADOSE makes extensive use of ROOT version 6, the data analysis framework developed at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the code is written to the C++11 standard (as are the other projects). My second project is the Automated Mission Reference Exposure Utility (AMREU).Unlike GEnEVADOSE, AMREU is a combination of three frameworks written in both Python and C++, also making use of ROOT (and PyROOT). Run as a combination of daily and weekly cron jobs, these macros query the SRAG database system to determine the active ISS missions, and query minute-by-minute radiation dose information from ISS-TEPC (Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter), one of the radiation detectors onboard the ISS. Using this information, AMREU creates a corrected data set of daily radiation doses, addressing situations where TEPC may be offline or locked up by correcting doses for days with less than 95% live time (the total amount time the instrument acquires data) by averaging the past 7 days. As not all errors may be automatically detectable, AMREU also allows for manual corrections, checking an updated plaintext file each time it runs. With the corrected data, AMREU generates cumulative dose plots for each mission, and uses a Python script to generate a flight note file (.docx format) containing these plots, as well as information sections to be filled in and modified by the space weather environment officers with information specific to the week. AMREU is set up to run without requiring any user input, and it automatically archives old flight notes and information files for missions that are no longer active. My other projects involve cleaning up a large data set from the Charged Particle Directional Spectrometer (CPDS), joining together many different data sets in order to clean up information in SRAG SQL databases, and developing other automated utilities for displaying information on active solar regions, that may be used by the space weather environment officers to monitor solar activity. I consulted my mentor Dr. Ryan Rios and Dr. Kerry Lee for project requirements and added features, and ROOT developer Edmond Offermann for advice on using the ROOT library. I also received advice and feedback from Dr. Janet Barzilla of SRAG, who tested my code. Besides these inputs, I worked independently, writing all of the code by myself. The code for all these projects is documented throughout, and I have attempted to write it in a modular format. Assuming that ROOT is updated accordingly, these codes are also Y2038-compliant (and Y10K-compliant). This allows the code to be easily referenced, modified and possibly repurposed for non-ISS missions in the future, should the necessary inputs exist. These projects have taught me a lot about coding and software design - I have become a much more skilled C++ programmer and ROOT user, and I also learned to code in Python and PyROOT (and its advantages and disadvantages compared to C++/ ROOT). Furthermore, I have learned about space radiation and radiation modeling, topics that greatly interest me as I pursue a degree in physics. Working alongside experimental physicists like Dr. Rios, I have developed a greater understanding and appreciation for experimental science, something I have always leaned towards but to which I lacked significant exposure. My work in SRAG has also given me the invaluable opportunity to witness the work environment for physicists at NASA, and what a career in academia may look like at a government laboratory such as NASA Johnson Space Center. As I continue my studies and look forward to graduate school and a future career, this experience at NASA has given me a meaningful and enjoyable opportunity to put my skills to use and see what my future career path might hold.

Offermann, Jan Tuzlic↗
NASA NTRS2009

The Astrophysics Science Division Annual Report 2008

The Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is one of the largest and most diverse astrophysical organizations in the world, with activities spanning a broad range of topics in theory, observation, and mission and technology development. Scientific research is carried out over the entire electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio wavelengths as well as particle physics and gravitational radiation. Members of ASD also provide the scientific operations for three orbiting astrophysics missions WMAP, RXTE, and Swift, as well as the Science Support Center for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. A number of key technologies for future missions are also under development in the Division, including X-ray mirrors, and new detectors operating at gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, and radio wavelengths. This report includes the Division's activities during 2008.

Oegerle, William↗